Tobirama's Solution
by rainnwillow
Summary: Not all of the Uchiha ignored Madara before he left the village. After Tobirama Senju overreacts to this, Hashirama begins to get involved on a much more personal level. Still being written! Rated M for violence and moderately graphic content. Tobirama & Hashirama X OCs
1. Tobirama's Solution

**Three hundred views! A humble achievement, but one which we authors are appreciating very much! If you have the time and inclination, please review. We are interested to see what people think of our perspective on this particular aspect of Naruto. *nervous laugh* That being said, I think the M rating for this story is quite appropriate. It is the first of it's kind that we've created, an writing this story has changed Rain and Willow's perspectives on our writing abilities considerably. ^_^'**

**DISCLAIMER - The makers of this story do not own Naruto (sorry readers, we are not Kishimoto-sensei in disguise). We created only Mizu and Yanagi Uchiha. **

# Tobirama's solution #

Though Madara Uchiha had left the newly founded Hidden Leaf Village, his words of warning to his fellow Uchiha had not fallen completely upon deaf ears. It was true that most Uchiha saw his actions as driven by selfish ambition. Nonetheless, there remained a very few young Uchiha who still respected Madara as the rightful leader of their clan. As a balmy evening settled peacefully on the fledgling village, two Uchiha sisters stood amidst a small throng of people, speaking intently. Together they urged other Uchiha to remember Madara's warnings, and engaged the other villagers in earnest discussion about the discrimination that the Uchiha Clan was beginning to face more and more often. A solitary shadow approached the edge of the loose group of people hanging around the impassioned speakers. Casually dressed and nonchalant, Tobirama Senju actually blended in with the crowd quite well despite his silver hair, crimson eyes, and bright red facial markings. Tobirama focused his gaze on the two young sisters, the expression in them becoming noticeably more unfriendly. Still, Tobirama made no move, his arms folded over his chest and his expression unreadable. As the sun neared the horizon and cool dusk set in, the sisters made their final points and left the park, parting from their fellow villagers with a friendly remark and a smile to show that they weren't being hostile, only reasonably concerned. They turned, strolling casually along the path towards where many Uchiha were building their family homes. Neither sister noticed the Hokage's brother lurking in the shadows, stopping now and then to converse with a passerby, but never letting the siblings out of his sight. Upon nearing their destination, the sisters, Mizu and Yanagi, decided to detour along a forested path that wound towards the outer edge of the village. Still the white-haired Senju went unnoticed as he began to follow them, the expression on his face unreadable.

The sun had since sunk beneath the horizon, sending a last few golden-red beams of light shooting up into the darkening sky. Neither sister had expected to be followed, and for the moment remained quite unaware of the presence of the silver-haired Senju. Having followed them far enough to be sure they were out of earshot of any nearby residents, Tobirama prepared to teleport and initiate a confrontation using the element of surprise. He then dropped smoothly onto the dirt path just a few feet ahead of the Uchiha sisters, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring sharply down at them. The siblings stopped abruptly, nearly tripping over one other in their sudden haste. Each shot the other a nervous glance as they realized they had been tailed by the very person whom they had so angrily criticized to any passing villager. On top of that, his close proximity indicated that he would not allow them to flee until he had completely delivered his message. Tobirama's stone cold expression conveyed the disdain he held for the girls and their bloodline as he spoke.

"You two have been quite busy, spreading dangerous rumors about members of the very clan you're supposed to have allied with," he stated flatly, his red eyes glinting darkly in the light of the rising moon. Apprehension began to give way to resentment as both sisters registered a distinctly unnecessary self-righteous demeanor about the man before them. The next glance they traded was one of growing indignation.

"False?" Yanagi Uchiha responded, keeping her tone cool as ice. "When you appear before us so confrontationally? You've even already decided that our arguments are nothing more than 'dangerous rumors'," she concluded, her tone now more challenging than impassive. "So much for a new era of equality amongst the shinobi clans," she snorted, feeling righteous indignation flare brightly in response to Tobirama's unwelcome and clearly biased interruption of their otherwise enjoyable 's eyes flashed with anger at the impertinence of her response

"You earned my resentment when you set out to stoke the smoldering coals of conflict that Madara left lingering among his people!"

"You mean the coals which you initially ignited? Had it not been for your blind distrust and relentless aggression towards the Uchiha, Madara wouldn't have been compelled to react so dangerously simply to protect his clan from the very village he helped to establish!" Mizu shot back narrowed his eyes sharply at the young girl's defiant challenge.

"Oh please, spare me-" he scoffed. "Enough of this rebellious insubordination. You will abandon advocating for political unrest by misleading and enticing the villagers. This is an order."Mizu scoffed derisively.

"Pff. Who do you think you are trying to order us to be quiet? You may be a Senju but you're not the Hokage! And even if you were I would never submit to your will, you manipulative, controlling bastard!" Mizu lashed out, her burning cheeks pink from glinted across the Senjuu's happuri as his increasingly hostile gaze snapped to focus on the younger of the fraternal twin siblings.

"Hold your filthy tongue!" Tobirama barked, his cool disdain steaming away into burning rage. In a fluid motion, he backhanded Mizu across the face, sending her reeling around in a near full circle before recovering her balance just as the tip of her nose grazed the dirt. His own features were a mask of authoritative force, as cold and sharp as the cliff face which loomed behind him. A bit surprised and momentarily stunned, Mizu struggled to glare at the Senjuu but the dizziness now dancing wildly in her ears forced her gaze to cross and jump, sending her butt into the dirt.

"Bastard!" Yanagi growled, drawing a kunai and crouching into a fighting position. A soft hum whispered across the clearing as she and Mizu activated their Sharingan simultaneously. Glowing red in the cool night, the doujutsu of the Uchiha clan locked onto Tobirama, deadly serious and ready to fight. Mizu pushed off of the ground, rising in to a crouch without ever taking her eyes off of her assailant.

"Do not think for a moment that either of you have any chance of victory against me, even combined your powers pale in comparison to my own." Tobirama sneered at the enraged sisters. Yanagi was just about to let fly the kunai clenched in her hand when the Senju before her suddenly staggered slightly, clasping a hand to his jaw, his face lined with disgust. Mizu sniggered at the expression of blind fury on the poisonous mushroom's face, her own reflecting a mischievous high-lipped grin dripping with satisfaction at her first drop of revenge. Yanagi saw the sheen of spit on his lip as he recoiled violently from Mizu's unexpected insult. Roughly pressing his fingers across his upper lip in a swiping motion, Tobirama spat sharply into the dirt before his feet, his red eyes blazing with rage and locked on the Uchiha sneering back at him through a rising bruise. Yanagi grinned appreciatively, but her expression sobered immediately as Tobirama shifted his weight forward, intent on retribution. Yanagi leapt towards him, slicing her kunai at his face, aiming for those hateful crimson eyes. Tobirama jumped away from the attack, retreating a few feet.

"I've had enough of this," he spat, beginning to weave hand signs. Yanagi threw her kunai at his flashing hands, forcing him to retreat another couple of feet.

"Shouldn'a come so casually dressed if you were planning on assaulting us," Yanagi remarked. Her banter was light, but her expression was deadly serious. Drawing another kunai and slipping a couple of shuriken into her sleeve, Yanagi moved to stand beside her sister, her eyes never wavering from the hostile Senju.

"Oh please. I haven't the need for any armor against the likes of you." Tobirama replied with a dark laugh. "Still, I imagine you'll wish I weren't so casually dressed very soon when I teach you both your place for such an appalling display of disrespect towards the Senju. Your performance in the village earlier today might have only earned you two a clean warning, but your dear sister has since convinced me to personally see to the end of this matter right here and now." His eyes flashed and in that moment Yanagi and Mizu both felt rough hands gripping their wrists, quickly restraining their own hands behind them in an unbreakable, painfully tight hold. Yanagi was forced to drop her kunai and the clone behind her kicked it towards the original, while the clone behind Mizu forced her to her feet. Tobirama picked up the kunai and moved to stand directly in front of the Uchiha who had assaulted him with her saliva, while the clone restraining the kunai's owner retreated a few paces so she could not try to interfere. From the angle Yanagi was at she could she their profiles and noticed how close Tobirama was to her sister when he suddenly drew back, kunai raised and tip pointed down, as if to stab from above. Yanagi jerked around wildly, attempting to free herself prompting the clone behind her to sharply kick the backs of her knees, forcing her to the clone behind Mizu pressed into her, forcing her closer to the original, still holding the raised kunai above them. Mizu cringed back away from Tobirama despite the clone's presence against her when he suddenly grabbed the collar of her shirt and slashed straight down through the garment. Mizu roared in protest and cursed the Senjuu, her shirt hanging open like a vest, exposing her bandage bound chest and bare belly. Not missing a beat, Tobirama backhanded the girl a second time, this time bruising the cheek he hadn't struck before, breaking the corner of her lip on her teeth. He then turned on his heel and strode over to Yanagi, leaving Mizu to struggle frustratedly against the clone restraining her as blood slowly began to drip from her chin.

Tobirama's face was unreadable as he approached the elder sibling, kunai at the ready. She was still kneeling from when the clone had subdued her by kicking a couple of her pressure points, and leaned away from Tobirama as much as she could without pressing against the clone behind her as he approached, stopping directly in front of her and gazing into her furious eyes glared into his eyes and activated her strongest genjutsu, desperately hoping that her Sharingan would catch this monster unawares. Tobirama's only reaction was to grunt contemptuously as he slammed his fist into her eyes, making her cry out and cutting off her genjutsu. Yanagi, squinting through sudden tears, tried to conceal her pain, grimacing and baring her teeth at her assailant.

"Cocky, arrogant piece of shit! Madara's fears were justified and worse! You've been out for Uchiha blood from the start, whatever Senju Hashirama tries to tell us. We'll never keep qui-" her defiant words were cut off as Tobirama grabbed her by the throat and squeezed mercilessly against her windpipe. His clone released Yanagi and moved to stand between her and her sister, still close by and ready to react to any attempted counterattacks on her behalf. Tobirama lifted her off of her knees slightly, tightening his grip further still. Yanagi, struggling to breath, tried to dig her feet into the forest floor in a desperate attempt to gain enough leverage to break free. Expressionless, the Tobirama clone delivered a vicious kick directly into the green-haired Uchiha's right kneecap. A sickening cross between a crack and a crunch was followed by a white hot jolt of pain. Yanagi cried out, the desperate sound emerging strangled from her throat, still held in the original's vise-like grasp. Yanagi began to fall, but could not fall far. She sagged against Tobirama's hand, cutting off what little breathing room she had left. A desperate choke pushing up from her chest, Yanagi struggled to support her weight with her uninjured leg. A mix between a sob and a roar of anger gurgled out as she managed to relieve some small amount of the constriction cutting off her life's breath. A soft swishing noise went mostly unnoticed as her mental focus finally slipped, her Sharingan deactivating and leaving her feeling half blind. With another blazing protest, her injured knee gave out, throbbing and sending spikes of pain radiating up through her leg. She pitched sideways (a little bit), starting to feel violently nauseous.

Supported mainly by the hand around her throat, Yanagi panted thinly as she managed to keep balance on one foot, wondering what came next. Tobirama watched the young woman before him struggle to keep some semblance of a footing. Despite her obvious inferiority as a fighter, she radiated defiance and pride.

"You Uchiha never quit," Tobirama growled, using the hand clasped around Yanagi's neck to push her backwards. "We will just have to see if that lasts. On your knees!" he commanded suddenly, his deep voice harsh and unyielding. Yanagi sprawled onto her backside in front of him, whimpering as her injured leg was jostled suddenly. She managed to inhale slowly, keeping her expression as scornful and furious as she knew how, sweat drops running down either side of her face. It occurred to her to wonder acerbically why he'd shoved her on her bottom if he wanted her on her knees, but she could guess the reason for that. More pain, more humiliation. The bastard was truly showing his colors she could recover any further, the nearby clone seized her by the shoulder and forced her up and forward so that she landed back into a kneeling position. Yanagi gritted her teeth to hide the pain of having her weight land unceremoniously on what was surely a broken kneecap.

Bone ground against tissue, skin broke, and Yanagi felt warmth begin to soak her pain-wracked knee. She growled, refusing to whimper in front of her attacker. Ignoring her increasingly haggard breathing, the clone reached into her sleeve, removing her 'hidden' shuriken and sending them flying off into the dark original knelt in front of her, making eye contact. Yanagi couldn't have put into words threat in his dark red gaze, but a shiver shook violently down her spine, eliciting fresh stabs of pain from her knee.

"You will do as you are told from this point onward, or your little sister will die," the silver-haired man said coldly. Underscoring this statement, the clone that had been restraining Mizu drew a kunai faster than even Yanagi could see. Still holding the struggling girl's hands behind her back one-handedly, the clone pressed the blade to her throat, causing her to become very still and focused on the sharp metal just barely touching her skin. Desperate and cornered, Yanagi felt a rage come over her stronger than any she'd felt in the heat of battle. White hot rage seared through her as he straightened up. A desperate kind of growl rose in her throat as Tobirama grabbed a handful of her dark green hair and pushed her head back slightly."I can tell if anyone is approaching long before they arrive. Do not expect help, and do not make the mistake of thinking that my threat is a bluff. I will kill your sister if you resist any further."

Yanagi's heart pounded in her chest. Every instinct in her screamed to fight, to do whatever was in her power to lash out and escape even if it meant more pain, or worse. Only the fact of Mizu's predicament tempered her panic, the danger to her sister being more than enough to keep her head on doing anything possible to play their way out of further punishment.

"What is it that you plan on having me do?" Yanagi demanded, desperately searching her mind for an out, any out, anything that would keep this monster away from Mizu. The clone with his hand on Yanagi's shoulder moved so that he stood directly behind her. Though he removed his hand, Yanagi knew there was no point in trying to fight. As long as Mizu's life was so completely in Tobirama's hands, Yanagi had little choice but to comply with his Senju stood before her with one hand clenched in her hair, his expression as distant and passionless as ever.

"You will learn how meaningless your pride truly is," he stated coldly. "I will make you realize your place in this village- the place that we Senju have allowed you to have." Then, his expression never wavering an inch, he told Yanagi to untie the drawstring keeping his pants 's eyes bugged, barely biting back a slicing retort. Her hands, already clenched into fists from the pain in her knee, clenched tighter. Her fingernails dug into her palms, her knuckles shone white, but this was an unconscious response; all Yanagi was aware of was just how repulsive the idea of obeying Tobirama's order was to her. Seeing no other way to keep the clone from plunging his kunai into Mizu's throat- and she spent a dangerously long time trying to- Yanagi forced her hands to move upwards. The string came untied insultingly easily, the layers of Tobirama's clothing sliding away to leave his still-limp manhood exposed.

Silver pubic hair gleamed in the light of the rising moon, and Yanagi had the nearly irrepressible urge to slam her balled fist into his most sensitive of spots as hard as she the nature of Tobirama's intentions, Mizu began releasing a stream of profanity, cut off only when the knife at her neck was pressed down just hard enough to draw blood. Powerless to interfere, Mizu could only watch as the twisted scene between her sister and the monster Senju unfolded.

"I think you can guess what I expect you to do. I'm sure you also know full well the consequences of trying to take advantage of this position. Even a temperamental fool such as yourself cannot fail to comprehend the completely powerless position you are now in." As he spoke this, Tobirama felt a flicker of arousal stir. Though he hid his thoughts completely, he was beginning to enjoy the hate-filled compliance he had forced this proud Uchiha into. "Understand that this is the price you are paying for stubbornly threatening the peace of this fledgling village. You and your childishly-minded clan of overemotional hotheads must learn that in every successful society, there are levels of authority which must be respected. You should learn to appreciate the fact that we chose to elect people to these levels democratically, rather than arbitrarily. It's time to learn how to live for the greater good of us all. This village has no place for those who can only focus on a foolish sense of entitlement." Yanagi struggled with herself, her mind still scrambling desperately for a way out. The practical part of her mind told her to meet the man's demand before he took her hesitation for defiance. The rest of her refused to move any closer to his now visibly hardening length. The hand in her hair tightened dangerously.

"I wouldn't waste time if I were you.. unless you're planning to refuse?"Tobirama watched in hidden satisfaction as Yanagi bent towards him, her face a mask of helpless fury. Feeling aroused by his role in this situation, Tobirama's expression shifted slightly he watched her reluctant lips take first a part of him, and then the rest of him into her mouth. The truth of what she was doing combined with the taste of the damned bastard made her gag reflexively, and he yanked against the roots of her hair to warn her not to let her body get the better of her. Yanagi's wounded knee wobbled dangerously, her stomach roiled violently, and only the thought of the monster's kunai at her sister's neck gave her the ability to force the muscles in her throat to relax. Pulling on her limited personal experience, she tried to add a bit of suction, her movements uncreative and stiff. She waited awkwardly, fearing that she'd lose control of her stomach if she took him much deeper into her mouth. As neither of them moved, Tobirama frowned coldly as he glared into her hateful eyes.

"Still resisting, I see. Such insolence must end immediately. Forget your pride right here and now- act as though you wish to be doing this, if you want either you or your sister to see the next sunrise," he barked, his voice full of contempt. Yanagi tried to force her mind to be blank, her anger still threatening to overcome her. Her knee was in agony though she tried to attempt to keep as much weight off of it as she could. Tobirama's words penetrated a haze of repressed nausea, pain, and blindingly hot rage. Yanagi's breathing became more uneven in response, her head swimming as her newly forged loathing of this man tried to rage to the surface. Somehow, she forced herself to obey. Moving her mouth up and down his now fully erect penis, she sucked him harder, flicking her tongue across his swollen member every so often. She gagged each time he neared the back of her mouth, but didn't stop, feeling tears gather in her eyes. As he rubbed against the back of her throat, she gagged uncontrollably, but managed to keep her bile from escaping her throat. She swallowed desperately, suppressing another retch as she did so.

Tobirama locked his knees to keep a standing position as Yanagi increased her efforts, milking him more effectively than she could have intended to. Or maybe it was just that he was somehow reveling in the atmosphere of the moment. Either way, it was now Tobirama whose breathing had grown uneven, yet he continued to make Yanagi move on him, rather than letting on just how much he wanted to thrust harder against her.

"Faster," he barked, his hand still tangled in her hair. He didn't miss the look of pure loathing she shot up at him, the intensity of which only heightened the sensation of her tongue now flicking rapidly across and along his length, and her lips tightening now around the base of him, now sliding down, almost away from him, and back again. Bitter tears began to leak from the corners of her eyes, which were squeezed half-shut in pain. Again and again she fought off the urge to clamp her teeth down and show this hypocritical excuse for an authority figure just what she thought of his manner of 'education'.He struggled to remain impassive as the sensations continued to build, and then, quite suddenly, climaxed.

Thick semen spurted into Yanagi's mouth and she retched and jerked backward automatically in disgust, already receiving more of the salty fluid onto her tongue than she cared for. Not bothering with an order this time, Tobirama opened up the hand that had been wrapped in her hair and used it to cup the back of her head. Forcefully pulling her back so that her mouth encompassed his entire length, he thrust against her mouth as he rode his climax. Yanagi, still gagging despite her best efforts, was forced to overcome her gag reflex and swallow what was being pumped into her mouth to avoid suffocating on it. Tobirama began thrusting harder still against her, feeling the tip of his cock rubbing sensuously against the back of her throat. Yanagi, her knee feeling as though it were on fire and certain she would vomit at any moment, continued to swallow as little as she could, unable to continue the charade of willingness that he had demanded when they began. Tobirama noticed this, and drove harder still against her, his own anger rising up. This last act of domination sent him panting to his finish, already stoking the flames for his next act against the two girls. Tobirama felt the end of his orgasm approaching and rode it out, still pumping rhythmically against Yanagi's mouth, reveling in the way her breath fanned desperately across his pelvis as she struggled to catch air through her nose. His movements slowed gradually as the semen spurting down Yanagi's throat slowed to a trickle. For a strange moment, her gag reflex subsided altogether as she nearly lost consciousness. Finally he halted abruptly, a barely audible groan escaping into the back of his throat.

Only now did he release his hold on the back of Yanagi's head and push her away contemptuously. Relatively free at last, Yanagi allowed herself to fall onto her butt once more, finally removing her weight from her knee, which was throbbing so badly that it felt as though it were still being kicked repeatedly. Her stomach roiled violently, and she pitched sideways just in time for her stomach to empty itself onto the dirt in front of her. Tobirama's clone remained behind her as Tobirama made a disgusted noise deep in his throat, pulled his pants up, and retied them. For a moment Yanagi dared to be relieved, thinking that their 'lesson' was over. But her hopefulness was short-lived as the silver-haired monster turned towards her younger sister. Spitting bitterly onto the dirt, she pushed away from the mess she'd made, lunging towards her sister, her thoughts confused and violent. Tobirama's clone grabbed her easily, hooking one arm around her neck and yanking her back harshly, pulling a kunai of his own and holding it up to her neck with his other hand. Struggling to stay aware of her surroundings, Yanagi wrapped her fingers weakly around the arm that was making it hard for her to breathe.

"Mizu!" she called out hoarsely, tears still sliding down the sides of her face. "Get away from her right now! You won't get away with this!" Tobirama ignored her, his lip curling slightly as he focused on the brat who had spat on his face before. Remembering it now made his rage surge once more, and he strode forward, still turning thoughts of retribution around in his head. Mizu glared up at his form from beneath her lashes and as he approached, the clone still restricting her wrists from behind slowly moved the kunai down from the spot against her neck to point directly into the small of her back. This elicited a sharp hiss from the girl forcing her to curve away from the threat and dig her shoulders into the clone behind her for support as she was unable to move away entirely.

"Your punishment must be much more severe." Tobirama warned, advancing only until his body was pressed flush up to Mizu's hips and causing the kunai held behind her to bite angrily into her skin. "Not only do you not know your place as an Uchiha, but you are a disgrace to those working hard to maintain the newfound peace in this village." He leaned down, grabbing her chin and demanding her gaze while his next words emerged as an angry growl. "…But most importantly, you will never dare defile me again." He pushed back suddenly and a tiny jolt of panic flashed through Mizu as she felt a small drop of blood grace her skin just below the kunai, causing her to instinctively thrust ahead and away from the searing pain.

It was that moment of distraction that allowed Tobirama to swiftly reach down between them to receive the kunai from his clone, passing it between her legs and raising the point. In a fraction of a second, Mizu's hips fell and the kunai Tobirama was still holding in position was thrust into the seam of her threw herself against the arms restraining her, barely feeling the slice of the clone's knife as it pressed into her skin, leaving a shallow slice which began to trickle blood as the clone adjusted his position to keep from slicing her throat out. A hoarse yell of fury tried to tear out of her throat, forcing her captor to clap his empty hand over her mouth, all the while having no trouble adjusting to her suddenly renewed resistance.

"Well what did you expect would happen after such a shameless display?" Tobirama sang, turning his head to leer at Yanagi over his shoulder. "Maybe you'll finally realize your role in this village as an Uchiha once this has transpired. If not, then you certainly have an unhealthy desire for pain and punishment…" He turned back and gazed sinisterly at the girl gasping noiselessly before him, her breath catching in her throat as she tried to fill her lungs and stomach the intense pain. "Tch, of course that's typical for your accursed clan. Letting your hated run wild and twist your every decision with vengeance and anger inevitably will warp your character into madness." Feeling dangerously nauseous and dizzy, Mizu struggled to sustain her weight despite the excruciating sensation still threatening to slice deeper upon her relapse. Tobirama observed her quickly growing distress with dark look of amusement, a crooked smirk sprouting and stretching across his features as her trembling knees began to buckle weakly. Yanagi began screaming insults against the hand over her mouth, her words muffled but mostly understandable.

"Hypocrite! Filthy sadist! You're looking madness in the eye every time you see your own reflection!" Tobirama's gloating expression cooled once more and he jerked his head at his clone to let it know that it was time for an abrupt interruption. Keeping one hand over her mouth, he removed the kunai from her throat so that he could use that hand to push down on her shoulder roughly. Her still-weak legs buckled, and she screeched as her weight was pushed directly onto her injured knee. The sound reverberated against the clone's hand, a detail she failed to register. The hand on her shoulder remained firm, preventing her from shifting her weight onto her relatively undamaged knee. Yanagi felt shards of bone grinding against each other in a way that was definitely not healthy. Nausea rolled in her gut, rising to her throat. She choked back vomit, tears rolling down her face and her breath coming in gasps. Once more her mind threatened to slide into the relative bliss of unconsciousness, but the thought of what she might find when she awoke kept her clinging to awareness. Wanting to scream, fight, and sob all at the same time, Yanagi gasped air into her lungs and set her jaw. Her eyes wanted to squeeze shut as the pain intensified, but she forced them to stay slitted open, glaring at Tobirama's now-turned back with more emotional strength than her body could have physically mustered.

In that moment, she found that she was beginning to gain a new understanding of her position in this situation. For one thing, her clan truly did have no place in this village, just as Madara had warned. Clearly their status as a co-founding clan meant nothing to the 'authority' of the village. On a more personal level, she found that her anger and pride was fast giving way to desperation as Mizu struggled not to collapse, blood streaming down her legs and pooling at her feet. Yanagi's tears fell thick and blinding, soaking her face and blurring what little vision she had left.

"Please.. I beg you, stop this. I will bear the full weight of your punishment, but please, spare my sister further injury." The words were out of Yanagi's mouth almost before she realized that she was speaking. Begging this man for anything made her want to slice him to shreds.. But watching Mizu endure far worse pain than her own, struggling to remain standing, was far more scoffed and whipped his head back towards Yanagi.

"If you really do love pain that much, I could easily have a few more clones keep you entertained. Your impulsive sister however must come to know her mistake and suffer the consequences of her juvenile insults." Another dark smirk bloomed across his expression as he added, "And you can rest assured that this lesson won't cost her any more than her dignity. Otherwise there would be no point in bleaching these stains. Ideally, you two should gain a newfound understanding for the concept of 'respect' from this repercussion. Then you could make yourselves of some actual use to the village rather than wasting my time!" With invisible speed, Tobirama used a single hand to weave a blur of signs. This triggered the emergence of three water clones which poured from his back in smooth, swift succession. Without a word of instruction from the original the clones proceeded to approach Yanagi, evidently already aware of his decision and moving to enact the intended task. The three clones closed in around Yanagi, forming a sort of box and blocking her view of anything else. "Nuuhou…!" Yanagi growled in protest behind the heavy hand gripping her jaw shut. Searing jolts of agony ripped up into her thigh muscles from her crumbling knew pressed into the ground below her, leaving burning trails in their wake. The acute intensity of the pain left Yanagi in a cold sweat, her head spinning and stomach churning. Suddenly, the only external detail she could conceive beyond her own crippling agony was the enraged , strangled growl that ripped from her sister's chest, breaking into choppy screeches. The clones closed in around her, the first one watching contemptuously as she began to drift out of consciousness. Yanagi's head hung limply, held up only by the hand which kept her quiet. Her hair, tangled and flecked with vomit, fell in front of her face, shaking as she trembled violently. She struggled with one bitter response after another, fearing the consequences for Mizu should she continue to launch insults at him. The edges of her vision were turning black, her gaze dull and unfocused. The screaming pain in her legs threatened to overwhelm her. She pushed her feet outwards and into a sort of sprawl, fearing retribution. The clones around her did nothing but glare coldly. Finally, she was able to shift around and take weight off of her injuries. The urgency of the pain began to ebb, but she was still beginning to lose hold of her Tobirama had summoned his clones, he turned his attention away from Yanagi and back to Mizu. Twisting the kunai she was still impaled on, he made no move to prevent Mizu from falling. Blood, which already flowed with dangerous freedom, began to trickle onto his hand. A snort of disgust and Tobirama released the handle of the kunai, leaving it embedded within Mizu.

The overwhelming physical shock of the situation forced Mizu's sharingan to spin to life, unfocused and blazing ahead as the rest of her slipping expression reflected the delirium of agony and blood loss. She started to collapse as her trembling legs failed but was abruptly yanked upright by the clone behind her, who clutched both her wrists in one hand effortlessly. The clone proceeded to raise her like a limp rag doll until her feet dangled numbly just above the ground, twitching slightly. Blood dripped thickly onto the soft ground, making a heavy, wet rhythm echo into the stood before Mizu, sneering poisonously at the mess he had made. Mizu's head dropped and shot straight down as consciousness fled her, teeth snapping together loudly.

"Hmph." Tobirama scoffed, as he reached forward and laced his fingers into her hair, tightly grabbing a fistful and roughly forcing her vacant ruby gaze towards him. He let out a low chuckle that sounded no different from a growl to Yanagi's anguished self, still being forced to listen but not watch. "There's no point in taking out your damned lights this time, considering you're too pathetic to control them at will." Tobirama mumbled, a sly grin growing from the corner of his lips. "Clearly you were unaware of their reflexive response altogether. Pitiful Uchiha." With that, he reached down and tore the kunai from the position where he had left it, eliciting a jolt of movement as surrounding nerves burned within Mizu. He then raised the kunai with one smooth motion and sliced through the bandages that were wrapped tightly around her chest. Let's see how you wake up to this you arrogant Uchiha." Tobirama growled, smirking as he stepped back to evaluate the effect of his actions before turning to approach Yanagi for a final dose of his wrath.

Mizu honestly didn't even notice that her clothes had been removed at first. There wasn't much of her consciousness hanging around at this point anyway. Pain, blood loss, and fear had all but literally driven her (at least temporarily) out of her mind. Released from Tobirama's attentions, she crumpled to the ground without any attempt to soften her fall. There she lay, her still-crimson eyes half-lidded and staring emptily into the forest. A soft wheeze of agonized breath ruffled the scattered leaves before her, these somehow not stained with her blood. She lay there, in a mostly unconscious state of shock. Yanagi screamed her name, making a foolish, desperate attempt to lunge to her feet. Tobirama, standing between the two of them, abruptly vanished. Barely noticing, Yanagi staggered to an upright position and attempted to stagger towards her sister. Before she could make it a single pace, a slight breeze and a subtle sound whispered from behind her. As suddenly as he had vanished, the damned Senju had reappeared behind Yanagi, a kunai glinting in his hand. Her heart racing, Yanagi lunged towards her sister, a shrieking growl of impotent defiance tearing from her throat. Tobirama, silent and disapproving, grabbed a handful of her long hair."

"This long hair. It's so impractical," he stated coolly, yanking her backwards. He thought of his brother, the Hokage, with his equally impractical hairstyle. A dull, familiar rage growled from deep within his heart. Hashirama. Affectionate, happy, exuberant Hashirama. The founder of a new world of shinobi… supposedly. Because Tobirama knew things about his brother's personality that few others did. The man was idealistic, and he honestly didn't seem to realize that his ideals were not universally accepted by their newly made 'comrades'. Tobirama understood that when you took a bunch of previously hostile ninja clans and made them live in one village, that the divisions of the past would not only linger, but in some cases deepen. To fight and kill one another one day and then call each other neighbors the next was something that only came naturally to young children and fools like a contemptuous sneer, he pull Yanagi's hair taught, taking care to pull on the roots as hard as he could without breaking his hold on her hair.

Yanagi didn't even notice, panting from fatigue, but she did realize dully that her knee didn't seem to hurt quite as much. That didn't really make sense, considering blood was still seeping from the torn skin. The gruesome crimson flower blooming on her green trousers spread its petals a little farther. With a short series of deft, efficient movements, Tobirama bunched up the Uchiha's hair- ever so discernably a dark pine green- and sliced through it with his kunai. Following from one motion to the next, before Yanagi could really begin to stumble from the sudden release of her hair, he sliced through the seams holding her kimono together. As Yanagi struggled not to lose her hard-won balance, the last shreds of any semblance of her dignity drifted slowly to the ground. Yanagi flinched as the cool air hit her skin, so sensitive from being in pain for so long. Shivering violently, she nonetheless lunged once more towards her unmoving sister.

"Fool!" Tobirama grabbed her neck from behind, pressing his thumb onto her windpipe and applying just enough pressure to restrict its airflow. Yanagi feebly raised her hand to scrape at his fingers, making strangled yet distinctly angry noises in the back of her throat. Despite Tobirama's words about takingno more than her dignity, every indication at this point was that her sister could very well be dead. Even if she wasn't, the extent of her wounds.. Yanagi began to struggle more insistently, her hair brushing Tobirama's hand as she tried to pry his fingers loose. There was a wave of bitterness filling her as she was forced to acknowledge that there was not a damn thing she could do to pay this monster back for maiming the only family she had watched as all signs of resignation and deference in the now short-haired girl before him shifted back somehow into the raw emotion that had provoked him into lashing out against the both of them to begin with. He sneered contemptuously. It revolted him that even in such a pathetic state, this miserable creature dared, in an utterly nonsensical act of pointless defiance, to bare its fangs at him.

Inviting certain death over the faint chance of being left broken, bleeding, yet alive, this emotion-driven wreck was breeding true to her unstable family line right before his eyes. He gathered his chakra, preparing to finally and completely crush at least some portion of the insidious hatred that seemed inherent in almost every single he entered the heightened state of mind which allowed him to shape the flow of his chakra, Tobirama's sensory abilities alerted him to an all too familiar chakra signal. How could Tobirama fail to recognize that unfairly formidable- yet somehow sickeningly kind- chakra signal? Tobirama could all but hear his absurdly carefree laugh now. Not that Hashirama would be laughing if he came across this scene the way it stood now. Tobirama released Yanagi's neck and in the same quick motion knocked her out with a measured blow to her temple. Letting her drop to the ground with a muffled thump, he had to wait a moment before he was able to confirm the chakra readings from both siblings. Though both were gravely injured, with the younger significantly more so, a medical ninja would probably be able to mend them frowned, focusing on his brother's chakra. Why was he so close, goddammit? Madara was officially a rogue shinobi, and Hashirama had no significant relationship with the Uchiha who were left behind, so there was no apparent reason for him to be here tonight of all nights.

Hashirama's signal paused, as if he were speaking to somebody. When it moved again, it had changed direction, and was heading.. Damn it all to hell, he was heading towards Tobirama. With sensory abilities his weakest skill, Hashirama had managed to pick up his brother's scent. Tobirama had even less reason to be in the forest behind the Uchiha compound than Hashirama. Still troubled by what had transpired between his brother and the man he'd loved as a brother, Hashirama was beginning to think that his brother needed to be brought to see that it was possible to see eye to eye with the Uchiha, however tragic their history might cursed foully, transforming his two shadow clones into half-dead enemy shinobi before sending them away from the village to set a trail.

Glaring at Mizu, who really just topped the scene off with her pool of blood, he prepared to convince his brother of his innocent intentions. He'd been restless that evening and, upon wandering the village, had chanced to detect two unfamiliar chakra signals. He'd used his teleportation jutsu to arrive at the location of the anomalies and had startled what appeared to be two enemy shinobi as they finished with the more gruesome of the attacks upon the Uchiha siblings. He'd managed to badly wound both men, but they had been trained in escape jutsu and had slipped through his grasp. Tobirama summoned another pair of clones and sent them in pursuit of the first set. This is what he had done to secure the criminals, while he himself stayed behind to do something about the critical condition the victims were in. This, of course, was when Hashirama had entered the edge of his sensory awareness, and wasn't it just in time? Tobirama would probably exclude that last bit. Too flippant. With an angry, terse sigh, he crossed his arms and awaited his brother's arrival.

Hashirama was just leaving the Uchiha compound after dropping by to ensure all was politically well since Madara's relatively recent departure. As he approached the split in the road which would lead to the village, he paused to observe the bright glow of the moon, hanging low above the treetops. He took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, listening to the insect songs playing in the grass and trees around him. After about half a minute of this calm composure, Hashirama detected a faint trace of his brother's chakra nearby. "That's peculiar…" He thought to himself. "What would Tobirama be doing in the village outskirts at this hour?" Turning away from the path to the village, he faced the dark woods and ventured toward them, curious as to what his little brother was up a short bit of travel, Hashirama caught sight of his brother crouching over what appeared to be a female sprawled on her back, unconscious. As he neared the scene, hurrying now, he caught sight of another unconscious female crumpled forward in an awkward position and surrounded in what appeared to be a pool of her own blood. Tobirama observed his brother as he approached and began to fill him in on the 'details' once he came within a few yards. "It would seem that these Uchiha were assaulted by a pair of enemy ninja. Judging from their advanced escape ninjutsu, they came for intelligence. They never got farther than this clearing before they abandoned their mission to attack these two, presumably to keep them from raising the alarm." He explained matter-of-factly. Eyes hardening, Hashirama sprang to the second kunoichi's side, leaping to avoid trailing his Hokage robe through the alarmingly sized pool of blood she lay in. Moving with extreme gentleness, he shifted her weight onto her back, grimacing when she moaned in barely- conscious agony. He moved his arms to support her weight away from the sickening wound between her legs, remaining crouched and using chakra concentration to stay removed from her congealing blood. Pale skin smeared with blood showed through the ruined shirt the hung in tatters on her remained where he knelt, silently removing a kunai from the folds of his casual clothing.

Yanagi stirred, her thoughts disjointed and confused. Slowly her dull eyes took in the sight of Hashirama crouching on that damned pool of blood, his back towards her. Her voice barely audible even to Tobirama, she whispered "The.. Hokage.." Her sister was safe. Madara had trusted this man who seemed to want to embrace every person as a part of some ridiculous, impossible family. She began to push her way to her feet, determined to.. she wasn't totally sure what she was determined to do, but it was decisive, and it would make Tobirama get what he'd earned for shifted his weight without moving his eyes toward her at all. Suddenly aware of the kunai, Yanagi paused. Death was still too close, and the sacrifice too pointless. She hovered, crouched awkwardly on her stomach and hands. Hashirama shifted so that Yanagi had a clear view of her sister's face, shifting from one expression of intense pain to another. Well, it was pretty grim, but it was a damn sight better than looking dead. Yanagi exhaled angrily, feeling her muscles already trembling from the strain of trying to do anything other than lie there in a shocked, jelly-like heap.

Roused from the black of unconsciousness by the feel of someone lifting her shredded body into their lap, Mizu fought to lift her eyelids. Peeking out, at first she could focus on nothing. Distant sounds like a muffled argument echoed around her. As her vision slowly began to clear she perceived her sister, supported by that damn Senju from her view just below the arm of her supporter. A second passed and Mizu realized with a start that Tobirama was threatening Yanagi with a kunai against her throat, his eyes burning into the back of the person supporting her and flicking darkly to meet her own. It was then that Mizu recognized the voice above her as that of Tobrama's brother (and superior), Hashirama Senju. A wave of oppressed fury washed over her aching body and Mizu let out a low growl, closing her felt another wave of relief break as her sister's eyes cracked open. She and Hashirama breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief. She pushed herself onto the side that didn't have a pulverized kneecap on its leg (she wasn't even sure what side that was. Right? Left? Who bleeding cared?). Tobirama remained tense but allowed her to achieve a relatively painless sitting frowned, wondering what to do about the useless rags of clothing trailing onto the ground beneath the wounded Uchiha.

"Tobirama, you're wearing armor under that, right?"

"Of course."

"Good. Give me your shirt." Tobirama's cheek twitched, the only indication of his objections to giving this girl anything at all. Wordlessly, he shrugged his shirt off, still keeping hold of the kunai. He tucked the weapon out of sight along his wrist as he tossed the shirt to his brother, who caught it without even looking behind him. Hashirama draped the fabric across the prone form in his lap and pulled the girl into his arms, standing and leaping back from the pool of blood as smoothly as he could. Tobirama had already lifted the other sister into his own arms, kunai hidden in one of the long ribbons of her sliced green kimono. Yanagi felt cool steel press against her ribcage, tensing and feeling her skin crawl at being [i]aided[/i] by the bastard who had treated her sister and herself with complete disdain and vicious brutality.

"Tobirama, let's take them to the mansion," Hashirama said over his shoulder, referring to the half-built manor that was to serve as the village headquarters and the living space of the Hokage. Hashirama didn't see the kunai in his brother's hand of course, because he was focused on not making the poor girl's condition worse, and because Tobirama was a sly bastard when he was threatening people in a delicate situation. "This is probably not going to be much fun," Hashirama warned the girl in his arms grimly, wondering if she could even hear him. Clearly the pure-hearted Senju didn't suspect a thing- he still hadn't cast his brother so much as a backward glance.

"Tobirama, I assume you've got clones chasing the men who did this?" he asked, raising his voice once more.

"Of course I do." Tobirama replied, impatience beginning to color his tone.

"See to it they do not get too far. Catching them should be no problem with your abilities." Hashirama said over his shoulder before dashing off toward the village, leaving his younger brother to follow, whispering curses under his breath along the way. Yanagi savored the irony of his situation bitterly, rustling up the nerve to cough a whispery, scary sounding laugh. Tobirama kept his eyes forward as he and Hashirama began running swiftly towards the cliff face rising above the trees. The only sign that he heard her at all was the flaring of his nostrils, but Yanagi found that such a gesture was effective enough. She bit back a scathing taunt, derisive that he had ever thought that assaulting an Uchiha would be the way to gain their obedience- much less their submission. Once she no longer had a knife to her back, she'd do everything in her power to expose the ugliness that this monster kept hidden behind his impassive mask.


	2. Hashirama's Intentions

**Took a little while, but here it is, crazyuser. XP Yes, Tobirama is a horrible person. XD This chapter has been polished and updated, and we will now be starting work on Chapter 3, though it's hard to say how long it'll take us.. Lol, at any rate, we hope people enjoy the chapter and we always appreciate feedback. ;D  
**

Chapter Two

Hashirama stood in front of a glass window looking into a small, sparsely decorated room. It was still dark outside- only a vague feeling of fatigue belied the hours that had passed since he'd last slept. He couldn't be sure exactly how long ago that had been; much had happened since he and Tobirama had carried the traumatized Uchiha siblings through the fledgling village, taking a nondescript, roundabout path to the still-unfinished red mansion that many Senju now inhabited. It had been at least three hours since then, and man who would one day be called 'The God of Shinobi' now stood with his arms crossed and an uncharacteristically grim expression lining his features. He stared at the room, in which two spare beds had been prepared for the wounded girls. His eyes were set in a grave, thoughtful manner, but a vacancy in his gaze suggested that he was seeing very little of what was in front of him.

As for Tobirama, he happened to be absent at the moment. He'd been an intensely watchful presence while the medical shinobi had postponed their evening schedule to care for their unexpected patients, leaving only after receiving orders from Hashirama to organize a response to the situation. All the while the sisters had drifted in and out of consciousness, but with their battered bodies now bandaged (both figuratively and metaphorically, thanks to medical ninjutsu), each had received a generous dose of sedatives and slept soundly. Tobirama had not returned since he'd been assigned the task of investigating the attack. Hashirama assumed that he was doing a meticulous job of following orders, as Hashirama had expected and trusted him to. Both of them needed to sleep before much longer, but he personally doubted whether he could fall asleep even now. His mind was preoccupied with Tobirama's report that the attacking shinobi, of unknown allegiance, had managed to commit suicide rather than be captured by his clones. He reported that the enemy had fled a short distance before activating a suicide jutsu which had completely consumed their bodies. Hashirama flared up then, exclaiming that this made the situation much more serious if such high level shinobi had been dispatched.

"This could be an attempt to spark hatred among the clans residing with this increasingly peaceful village!" He had declared. Even now, too much of this situation remained bewildering, and Hashirama found himself unsure of how to act next.

Something about the room he wasn't seeing brought Hashirama's attention back to it, his expression not changing much from a look of vacant discord to one of more focused discord. Both Uchiha remained soundly asleep, though the blue-haired sibling was muttering uneasily. The door was open, and Hashirama strained to hear what she was saying, but her words were too indistinct and unconnected to convey any real meaning. His frown grew more pronounced, his concentration already returning to what he knew of the evening's disturbing chain of events.

Hashirama recalled earlier in the evening, when he'd found Tobirama watching the medical shinobi as they worked efficiently to treat their patients. Tobirama's eyes had been narrowed sharply as he watched them intently through the glass from the hallway outside of the med room. Just then, his brother strode up to him with a serious look on his face. "Tobirama, due to the serious nature of the attack today I want you to put any current assignments of yours on hold and investigate this matter immediately." Tobirama's eyes bugged slightly for just a moment and his jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth at the order but, recovering instantly, he turned on his heel in silent compliance before flickering out of sight.

Hashirama remembered this now, wondering what had caused Tobirama to react at all to receiving such an order. He had seemed less concerned with the serious matter at hand and more... Well, reluctant, if anything, to be assigned the task of handling the matter properly. That really was rather unlike Tobirama, who didn't generally act out of character unless something had him disturbed. Safe to say, that was a very uncommon occurrence, and Hashirama wondered why his overly stoic brother was reacting so unusually to this whole situation. It was strange indeed.

The blue haired Uchiha tossed in her sleep then, leading Hashirama to notice her balled fists and white knuckles. "Damn...Senju..." She began muttering, eyes still closed. "How...dare you...". Hashirama's expression quirked as he listened through the glass. "That's odd." He said aloud. _Why would they get mad at us for giving them medical attention at a time like this?_ He glanced back at the girls once more before heading to his office to take care of other official matters and await his brother's return with any new intel on the situation.

The damn Senju himself was standing in front of the window of his own office, arms crossed. Looking angrier than usual, he glared at the reflection of the dimly lit room. He was having trouble deciding just how he'd be able to handle this situation without his brother discovering the true series of events that had taken place. Furthermore, how he could achieve this without starting a war that would weaken the newborn village and possibly earn them enemies they didn't need to have.

His fisted hand clenched more tightly, whitening the knuckles and pressing his fingernails into his palm. _Those damn Uchiha,_ he thought, the cold coals of anger in his chest smoldering more brightly. The rebel clan of the village, always causing trouble with their actions, words, and attitudes. Why couldn't Hashirama understand that they needed to be dealt with before they tore apart everything he'd worked for? Tobirama recalled the day that Madara had demanded the life of either himself or Hashirama in recompense for the life of Izuna, his long-dead brother. Izuna had been the casualty of a completely unrelated battle, and yet still Madara had clung bitterly to his need for revenge. Only when Hashirama had made it completely obvious that he would not kill Tobirama had Madara relented. Clearly the man was out for Tobirama's blood, having held him responsible for Izuna's death. Tobirama did not feel that such bitterness was in any way justified, even if he had been the one to strike the fatal blow to Izuna. Such was the nature of wartime. In the heat of battle, it was kill or be killed, and Izuna would scarcely have hesitated to cut down Tobirama had the situation been reversed. This was a prime example of how the irrational, angry mind of an ambitious Uchiha worked. Tajima Uchiha had been the same. He'd seen the same prideful violence in the eyes of those Uchiha girls just that evening. He shook himself out of his stormy contemplations and formulated a quick plan.

Not wanting his brother to pick up on his proximity, he set out to appear busy with the task given to him by carefully covering his tracks. He let out a short, annoyed breath and focused his chakra, reappearing just outside the forest he had followed the girls into the previous evening. Leaping up into the trees, he stealthily landed on a tree limb and focused more chakra, dripping out five water clones, each one hopping onto another nearby branch and forming a circle around him before darting off in five directions. _The clouds are already thick and dark enough today that no one would be surprised if the forest experienced a brief shower,_ Tobirama thought as he turned his face to the sky. The clones, having reached the appropriate distance, each released a basic raging waves water jutsu into the sky, aimed slightly into the center of the large circle they'd made. As it began to rain where Tobirama was, he leapt off into the trees, following the earlier path from above. When he saw the mud pooling in the path and erasing his footprints around the scene from earlier along with other physical evidence he smirked and released his clones. As they splooshed into formless pools of water, the clouds cleared somewhat and the now-visible moon shone briefly in the sky forming a dim rainbow through the fine haze of water.

Satisfied, Tobirama returned to the mansion and made his way to the Hokage's office. Hashirama had been attempting to pass the time by attending to the many responsibilities of his office, but he immediately set aside his papers when he heard Tobirama tapping on the door. He may not have been much of a sensory type, but his brother's chakra was still a familiar presence to him. "Enter," he said, hoping Tobirama had something to report. Tobirama walked in, closing the door behind him with a snick and folding his arms in front of his chest.

"Hello, brother. Have you anything to report?" Hashirama inquired, his tone urgent. Tobirama hid a scowl. _Why do you always have to care so much, Hashirama?_ he thought angrily. His face still impassive, he calmed his mind and answered his brother.

"No. My clones and I scouted the area, but whoever these shinobi were, they knew how to hide every trace of their presence. Beyond that, it began raining shortly before I returned, and much of the evidence has been washed away." Hashirama actually cursed, his eyebrows clenching together angrily.

"Dammit, Tobirama, that's not good enough," he responded emphatically. "We can't afford not to take something like this seriously. You understand the politics here, I'm sure."

Tobirama nodded, starting to wonder if maybe his attempt to divert his brother's attention might have worked too well.

"And there's another thing." Hashirama paused.

Tobirama just watched his brother, waiting for him to continue.

"Earlier I heard the blue haired Uchiha girl damn the Senju angrily as she fought in her sleep... I just find it rather odd for her to be angry at us at a time like this for giving her medical attention after such a dramatic encounter." Hashirama explained, his tone growing inquisitive.

Tobirama scoffed lightly and said, "Well I don't find that surprising in the least bit, brother. The Uchiha have always been out for Senju blood, no matter the circumstance," he stated as he habitually crossed his arms. Again his mind replayed a bitterly defeated Madara Uchiha demanding death in order to resolve his personal issues.

Hashirama fixed his younger brother with a stern look. "Tobirama, you know that viewing the situation that way is only going to make things worse. You really should try to understand the Uchiha, rather than assuming that they're all the same."

Tobirama's expression was habitually emotionless, and such habits were serving him well now. Even as he met his brother's gaze with stubborn silence, he thought grimly to himself that Hashirama gave the Uchiha far too much credit. He himself had yet to meet an Uchiha that didn't meet his eyes with the same look of defiant pride that had been in Izuna Uchiha's dying gaze as he told his brother never to trust an alliance with the Senju.

Hashirama sighed. "Well at any rate, the important thing now is to focus on finding out who sent these shinobi."

Tobirama considered the choices available to him. Revealing his hand in the matter was out of the question completely. Hashirama's childish naivete was, in Tobirama's opinion, destructive to the barely-established office of the Hokage. Without a stern code of law, the Leaf Village would find itself facing an insurrection from within, which they could not afford.

Ironically, Hashirama was worried about this event causing just such trouble, albeit for different reasons. Tobirama knew he had to respond, and that furthermore he could no longer continue to avoid confronting the issue that Hashirama was focused on without appearing suspicious himself.

"Of course, brother. However, it will be hard to do that, since the jutsu they used to kill themselves was designed to destroy all traces of their existence. My clones had a limited chance to gather data before reporting back to me. Even I do not know what kind of jutsu it was. And when I returned personally, the scene had been severely compromised by the rain, which I already mentioned." Tobirama watched for his brother's reaction, wondering if he'd made himself sound too much at the mercy of elements he couldn't control.

Apparently not, since Hashirama's only reaction was to frown thoughtfully. "So what do you suggest we do next?"

Tobirama suppressed a growing anger, clenching his folded arms a bit more tightly to his chest. "Focus on the village," he responded, going to redirect his brother's attention. "Ensure that the event does not lead to a situation which we cannot control."

This was a piece of advice that was similar to what he often gave in political situations where they had limited intel, and Hashirama still had a pensive expression when he announced that he was going to bed and that Tobirama should as well. Tobirama walked away from his brother's office, an angry expression on his pale features.

As he entered his bunker style room on the basement level one beneath the growing Hokage's compound, he slammed the door a bit harder than intended. He kicked off his sandals impatiently and cursed, leaning back against the door and covering his eyes with one hand, letting out a long slow breath. There were no windows as it was an underground room, so when Tobirama uncovered his eyes and glared before him into the blackness there was no visual difference until he reached for the light.

_Just what the hell do I do now?_ He thought furiously, stomping across the stone floor and dropping onto his bunk. _Hashirama cares too damn much about the Uchiha, especially since Madara left. Perhaps I need to re-ensure that those little rats don't squeal._ He glared at the blank, unpainted wall across from him. _After all, the one won't keep her mouth shut even in her sleep, and the other was no better._

He punched his pillow suddenly then, breaking open one side and leaving him wrist deep in feathers. Growling angrily, he flung the pillow off of his hand and against the wooden trash bin tucked under a small desk in the corner. This caused three stacked kunai on the desk to slide off, two clattering noisily against the stone and one catching the edge of the bin and sticking into it precariously.

Tobirama's pensive gaze centered on the kunai but he made no move to retrieve either his pillow or his weapons. His thoughts seethed with conflicting impulses, with one in particular resurfacing continuously among the roiling torrent of half-formed plans of action. The girls needed to be kept quiet, or the entire situation would fall out of hand. He glared at the kunai until its tentative balance gave way to the inevitable force of gravity. The clattering sound of one kunai joining its brethren on the floor caused him to jump, a reaction which only made him angrier. He was beginning to feel nervous as well, more than he cared to admit to himself. Element after element of this matter continued to slip out of his grasp, and it was becoming increasingly crucial that he maintain control of it all.

It was then that Tobirama made up his mind to ensure the Uchiha girls' silence by arranging a more serious confrontation than before. _That should scare them into silence._ He thought to himself, turning over possible ways to scar them more deeply, only this time from the inside where it wasn't plain to see. He sighed deeply and reclined back onto his bed, folding his arms behind his head where his pillow used to be. Anxiety crept up into his stomach and he glared even more angrily at the ceiling. _I've got to get to them before Hashirama does,_ he thought before reaching over to turn off the lamp. He tossed restlessly on his mattress for a bit before slowly closing his eyes and forcing himself to fall asleep.

The next morning, Hashirama awoke to sunlight shining cheerily through the window of his bedroom. Those building the mansion he now called home had insisted upon completing and furnishing this room for him almost immediately after the building itself had been mostly finished. He sat in bed a moment, contemplating his surroundings, feeling somewhat embarrassed about sleeping in this modest but undeniably comfortable room when he knew that so many Leaf shinobi still lacked proper housing.

_I wonder how those girls are doing,_ he thought, pushing his hair out of his eyes. A short time later, he was dressed and walking towards the med room, considering how to approach the victims of last night's attack. He had scarcely entered the room when the green-haired sibling shot up in her bed, looking around wildly. The girl's eyes locked into him and her form blurred as she jumped into a crouch. With the sound of a blade being sharpened, she activated her Sharingan. A vague hint of sadness crossed Hashirama's features as he remembered the experience which had awakened the infamous doujutsu of the Uchiha in his best friend and cofounder of the Leaf Village. The three tomoi now glaring his way bespoke this young woman's maturity as a fighter, both emotionally and physically.

"Damn Senju!" Yanagi exclaimed with a half-mad look in her eye. Don't you dare come any closer. I don't care who you are, you'd better stay the fuck away from my sister!" Dismayed, Hashirama raised both hands to show he meant no harm.

"Please, try to calm down, I have absolutely no intention of harming you or your sister. I promise!" He underscored his point by dropping into a sitting position, crossing his legs and hoping that no other shinobi would come across this tense situation. "Honestly, I've only come to help. Please, won't you tell me your name?"

Yanagi just glared at him darkly through her scraggly, newly-shortened hair with crimson eyes full of suspicion. "I have no reason to trust a Senju like yourself in the least. Just what are you playing at anyway, taking us in like this?"

"You can't be serious," Hashirama protested, still taken aback. He frowned frustratedly. "You needed urgent medical attention and we have the best facilities in the village." Hashirama replied simply, his eyebrows knitting together.

"You should've just taken us back to the Uchiha compound. Our medical facilities are sufficient to heal these wounds," the blue haired girl stated, sitting up in her bed, having clearly been awake for some time.

"I apologize, but I'd rather doubt that," Hashirama replied, his tone respectful but firm. "You probably realize that your wounds were very serious. You in particular required reconstructive medical ninjutsu that only a highly skilled kunoichi could provide. Please try to understand, I mean you no harm." Hashirama said, standing and reaching out to touch her leg through the blanket.

Yanagi hissed at him, tensing to jump forward, but Mizu had already knocked his hand away derisively. "Fool! Instead of worrying so much about us, perhaps you should pay more attention to your brother, though I really don't know how you can bear to call him that," she said scornfully.

Hashirama blinked, his expression becoming one of concerned confusion. "What else should I call him? He is my brother. Please," he said, turning to address Yanagi, "You're not fully healed yet, you should be resting."

"Your response proves your ignorance to your the true nature of your own flesh an-" Yanagi began hotly, but was abruptly cut off by a warning noise from Mizu. The green-haired sibling turned an incredulous eye to her sister.

"Not now, sister," Mizu said bitterly. "You'll only get us killed."

Yanagi huffed angrily before leaning back and supporting her weight with her arm so that she could ease her knee out from beneath her. It was actually pretty painful, even now. She allowed her Sharingan to deactivate, closing her eyes wearily.

Hashirama was unsure how to respond to what he'd just heard. Tobirama certainly didn't make himself easy to like, but their responses indicated that he'd threatened to kill them, which seemed completely improbable to him. Tobirama's temper had never led him to cause that sort of trouble in the past, and Hashirama could see no reason for that to have changed so suddenly. He hesitated, considering his next words carefully.

"This visit has nothing to do with my brother. I know that Tobirama has made no effort to treat your clan respectfully, and I personally apologize for his behavior in this regard." Both girls turned their eyes towards him, not expecting such an incredibly humble demeanor. "Still, you should consider that if he hadn't found you after the attack, you could very well be dead right now." He paused as both girls stiffened with outrage, but continued when neither burst out into an indignant retort. "I mean only to improve matters between our clans. I wish you would trust me."

Another moment of silence almost encouraged him to continue until he heard Yanagi scoff. "I doubt very much if either of us will ever trust a man again."

Hashirama frowned deeply as the fact of what had been done to them was so rudely confirmed. Though he knew that these girls would think little of him for it, he could feel sympathy swelling in his chest. The fierce spirit in these girls broke his heart, knowing as he did that it had been so harshly abused. "Not all men are monsters," he replied quietly, his gaze locking intensely with hers as she glanced up, his tone catching her attention. "I hope very much that I can help you believe this for yourself. Please, tell me your names."

Yanagi blinked, scowling as her heart began beating faster in spite of itself. She broke the overly heated locking of their eyes, glaring down at her injured knee. Heartbeat notwithstanding, anger was the only emotion coloring as she replied tersely, "Yanagi."

Hashirama responded with a goofy smile which only Mizu saw. "Thank you. And what about you?" He said, turning his gaze toward the blue haired Uchiha and beaming even more widely. The girl just stared back at him, the look in her eyes flat and unenthusiastic.

After a few seconds spent deliberating she replied shortly, "Mizu." After she spoke she dropped her gaze and glanced over at her sister, who returned her slightly nervous expression.

Hashirama's smile grew somehow, becoming the brightest, cheeriest smile the Uchiha girls had seen in longer than they could really remember. Unnerved, Mizu drew her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her shins.

"Don't worry, you really can trust me. I promise." Hashirama said, winking.

At this, Mizu's eye twitched and Yanagi cringed. Feeling extremely awkward about the whole situation, Yanagi said, "So just what is the point in all this stupidly friendly conversation anyway? You're not winning us over or anything, you know." She gave him an unimpressed look, clearly unfazed by the fact of who she was talking to.

Dismay flashed across Hashirama's face. "Must we be on such unfriendly terms? I really do admire you both for your resilience in the face of such hardship. Please," he said once more as he leaned towards Yanagi. "Let me show you what the Senju are really like."

"I already know full well just what the Senju are like!" Yanagi retorted, quickly leaning away and giving him a disgusted look. Her expression then shifted to one of warning, as she contemplated the scope of the consequences of enlightening Hashirama on the ignorance of his words and actions.

"No, I really don't think you do. Why are you being so stubborn about this?" He said, reaching out to touch her leg and having his hand violently kicked away before he even had a chance to make contact.

Hashirama sighed and shifted his gaze toward Mizu. "Look." He began, "I'm going to clear up your unnecessary negative emotions one way or another, so why don't you just make this easy and work with me?" With that, he leaned in with lightning speed and pecked the blue haired Uchiha on the cheek, and then the green haired one before either one had time to react.

Stunned and furious, both girls brought a hand to their faces, momentarily speechless. Mizu's jaw dropped slightly. Yanagi gritted her teeth angrily.

"You ridiculous idiot!" Mizu burst out. She seemed about to continue, but stopped herself, disgust lining her features. She and Hashirama stared at each other for a moment and the room fell silent.

Yanagi exhaled loudly. "Look, I appreciate that you gave the damn to help us out, but we're not interested in your affectionate attention, really we're not." She looked at him, her expression the only indication of how angry she was feeling at what she decided was a rather childish gesture. "But if you really wanna know what happened last night, talk to Tobirama Senju." She said the name carefully, but as though doing so left a bitter taste on her tongue.

Mizu huffed softly, turning her glare towards the blanket in front of her. "I don't know what he's told you, but you should probably make sure to ask for the truth."

Hashirama crossed his arms, frowning slightly. "I trust my brother," he stated firmly.

Yanagi dropped her gaze to her own blanket, her expression becoming intensely bitter. Mizu suppressed a shudder, her fist clenching on the thin white comforter covering her. A thick silence fell on the room.

Yanagi tried to swallow the lump of bitter emotions in her throat to say something when an arm descended on the side of her bed next to the wall. She looked up, scowling, and found herself eye to eye with the First Hokage of the Leaf Village. Even as she felt her stomach lurch in reaction to both his unexpected proximity and the intense look in his gaze, she tensed and leaned away. She opened her mouth to say something scathing, but was swiftly interrupted by his soft full lips pressing against hers.

Her eyes widened with shock, but he pulled away and moved backwards before she had a chance to push him off of her. She sat there, stunned and angry, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Ah, I- You- ah- .. Who the hell do you think you are?!" She demanded, sputtering furiously and wiping her mouth roughly with the back of her hand.

Hashirama grinned again, pleased that he'd gained a reaction from her that was as flustered as it was indignant. "Don't misunderstand, I have no desire to violate you or your sister-" he began.

"You've a fine way of showing it!" Yanagi interjected furiously. "You have some idea of what we've been through, and yet you want to show some perverted form of sympathy by, by-" she hesitated, searching for words to express the absurdity of the situation.

"-But I can't ignore my own feelings in this," Hashirama continued smoothly, capitalizing on the pause in her rant.

"That's absurd!" Mizu burst out, speaking loudly over what he began to say next. "Your feelings are quite irrelevant! You need to learn some self-control, just like your miserable, domineering brother, before you drive the whole Uchiha Clan away from your stupid village!"

"Let me finish!" He protested immediately. "I may seem inconsiderate right now, but I feel deeply for the both of you, born and raised in a world of anger and violence! You are cruelly scarred in more ways than I'm sure I can see, but the only cure for hatred is love, and love is something I know how to express," he said, meeting each of their gazes by turn.

Yanagi flung her fist outward, her indignation blazing in every fiber of her being. "Don't try to make this out like you love us, or some bullshit like that! You don't even know us! Don't pretend to understand us just because you were once Madara's friend! The way in which you assume that you can heal what you don't comprehend is as arrogant as the way in which Tobirama Senju-" she spat the name this time, her face contorted with outrage- "Assumes that every Uchiha is out to tear this goddamned village apart at the roots!"

"Allow me to comprehend!" Hashirama insisted passionately, pushing the door of the room closed and stepping towards her, his arms outstretched. "It is my duty as Hokage to care for and address the past, present, and future of every single person in this village. My actions may strike you as outrageous, but to me it is unacceptable to allow you to carry unnecessary pain within yourselves. You scoff at the idea that I love you, but believe me when I say that I deeply love everyone- everyone!- in this village that I have somehow been able to create! Everything I do to keep this village together grows from this love, and though I may not fully understand the individual lives of every Leaf villager, I wish to- strive to- understand as much as I can! If you would only allow me to show what it is to love and be loved with the soul's full passion, I know you would understand!"

He paused to catch his breath, gauging the expressions of each sibling. Yanagi's face was unreadable, save for a distinct air of repressed disgust. Her roughly cut hair quivered slightly, making him realize how tensely she sat in her bed, every battle-honed muscle clenched taughtly. Mizu was glaring at him flatly through dark blue hair which fell softly around her slender form, also rigid with unexpressed anger.

He frowned unhappily, determined to understand and be understood. "Don't judge me with the same eyes that you see my brother through. The differences between us cannot be expressed simply, but they are deep and crucial. His thoughts and feelings concerning what is truly important in life have long been damaged by what is now the loss of every other member of our immediate family. I don't know if there is a power in this world to heal his wounds, but I know he often cannot handle his emotions properly. These emotions are twisted by a furious grief that will probably never subside. I believe that he hates himself for being unable control his feelings despite the fact that he endeavors in every waking instant to feel as little possible."

Both girls clenched their jaws more tightly shut to remain silent, each of then wishing vehemently that Hashirama would just shut up and go away.

"I am not my brother." Both girls narrowed their eyes, Hashirama's words striking true in both of them. Mizu's mind began immediately to churn furiously with myriad sharp retorts. Yanagi ignored a quiver of guilt at the suggestion that she might have allowed her anger at one person to color her actions towards another. Valid though his points may be, the fact of Tobirama's emotional state of mind failed completely to justify his actions. She knew that Hashirama remained ignorant of these actions, but continued to doubt bitterly whether he was capable of accepting the true depth of Tobirama's mental instability.

Hashirama moved towards Mizu, encouraged when she didn't immediately lean away from him. He reached out and softly brushed her hair away from her face, all the better to see her charismatic features. Now she leaned away from him, so he withdrew his hand, trailing his fingertips gently along the full curve of her cheek and stepping away from her once more.

The silence that had followed his speech continued to settle around the three of them softly, neither girl able to find the words to respond. He sat carefully on the edge of Yanagi's bed, resting a hand gently on her ankle when she started to pull her legs away from him.

"Please say something," he importuned softly.

Yanagi looked away from him, swallowing roughly. "You're a fool," she replied, her voice quivering slightly from the churning mass of conflicted emotions in her gut. Her words caused him to chuckle softly.

"You've no idea how often I hear that," he said sincerely, moving his hand so that it rested on the curve of her shin. This time she did pull away from him, glad that he wasn't trying to feel up her wounded leg.

"Are you proud of that?" Yanagi asked, her tone scathingly bitter.

He considered this a moment before responding. "I wouldn't call it pride. Many consider me foolish, but I consider it foolish to deny my human emotions simply because I live in a world which, due to the facts of recent history, grows crueler with every passing generation. If we allow the harshness of this life to kill our hearts, then life will only get harsher."

Yanagi felt as though her guts were freezing through as she recalled the many Uchiha warriors who had fought and died believing that only anger and pride could defend one against the cruelties of a war-torn shinobi world. She had been taught from an early age that love led to pain, a pain far worse than any wound of the body. Only by hardening oneself to affection could one survive without being driven completely mad. Her own love for her sister, fierce and irrepressible, drove her always to become a stronger warrior because she could not bear to excise it from her being. The traumatic experiences of the night before had forced her to realize what it would mean to be unable to prevent the death of her only sibling, and the very possibility of it threatened to drive her into a frenzied desperation. Just like she'd always been warned, love loomed in her mind as the potential cause of an agony which could destroy her very soul and bring about the extinction of her identity as a person. She could barely comprehend allowing herself to form such a dangerous bond with a person whom she wasn't even related to. As far as she could tell, such a thing would not only be intensely stupid, it'd be damn near suicidal.

"I suppose it's all very well for you to have decided that," she finally responded, her voice thick with many emotions. "Hashirama "Wood-Style" Senju holds the uncommon and possibly unmatched ability to fight any opponent with ease, even the strongest of Uchiha. With that ability, you must surely defend what you hold dear without fear of defeat, or of failing to keep your promise of love and being left with only bitter defeat and fading memories," she said bitterly, unable to meet his eyes.

"You think I don't fear failure?" Hashirama responded quietly. Yanagi's eyes flicked to his, which were now staring at the deep blue sky outside, filled with a sadness decades old. "I have failed many times to preserve what I hold most precious. The Uchiha slaughtered half of my family, and instilled in the rest a bitterness so deep that even in death it lined the face of my father and mother both. It distances my only living brother from me every instant of our lives. My best friend-an Uchiha- tries regularly to kill me and I'm still unable to understand why, because he refuses to tell me. Maybe he's unable to tell me, or maybe he doesn't even know himself. I still spend hours trying to figure it out, even though I know more or less why he has made the decisions he has. I simply don't understand why nearly every shinobi clan who's ever been in long-standing conflict with another- all of them- must be completely unable to resolve their mutual conflict. Even with alliances between clans forming at an unprecedented rate, we remain at the point where politics between clans remain perpetually limited to violence which leaves them only with broken families. Now it's just happening on a larger scale, between coalitions of multiple shinobi clans." Hashirama fell silent, his jaw clenching unhappily.

"But you see," he continued after a moment, "I've learned that it's only by continuing to form meaningful bonds with many people that one can sustain the pain of loss without being broken by it completely. If you only have one person in this world, then of course you would collapse if they disappeared forever. But even having a few people in your heart beside that can be enough to support and sustain you through the deepest emotional pain. Closing yourself off to love is the fatal mistake, not the other way around."

So saying, he looked at Mizu, who was staring at him, her expression completely unreadable. "In this world of shinobi, it happens regularly that one loses everyone in their life, beloved or otherwise," she said quietly. "Love can't block the slice of a knife. Love means nothing when you stand in a corner facing insurmountable odds, watching everything and everyone you care about try and fail to survive them. You may not even be there when the world comes crashing down, but you still must remain with only the shattered shells of a hollow dream. This is true of every person, even those who, for now, remain unaware of it." Her tone was impassive, but her chest ached with the undeniable truth of the fallibility of human nature.

"But love means everything on the battlefield!" Hashirama replied emphatically. "Both you and your opponent are fueled by the fear of losing the things that you love most dearly! It's that fear that drives war and it won't stop until people agree to trust one another." Then after a pause he half whispered, "So trust me.", letting his gaze drop to the floor for a moment.

Mizu's bottom lip stuck out, her features growing even more defiant as she crossed her arms, mumbling, "It's just not that simple." Rolling her eyes away from him, she caught a glimpse of her sisters expression and noticed that she seemed to be a bit emotionally overwhelmed by the Senju's presentation.

A little surprised, she turned her gaze to the floor and scowled at it for a bit, annoyed at this whole ordeal. Not wanting to meet his eyes, Mizu shut her own after feeling her Sharingan spin with rippling emotions.

She quietly took a long deep breath and tried to relax and keep her cool so she could stay focused and not frustrated. After allowing the silence to expand for some time, she decided to give the Senju a response.

"If you truly desire to gain our trust then trying to charm us won't help at all." Mizu began in a calm monotone. Raising her face she continued, "Madara warned us that the Senju were sneaky and he was absolutely right. You all preach about love and peace but have an entirely backward way of expressing it. How could you carelessly trust someone who openly disrespects you? True 'love' and 'peace' require mutual respect."

Hashirama gazed sadly at the girl as she spoke, confusion and pity mixing into his fiery expression. "I have nothing but respect for the Uchiha or any clan opposed to this endless war!" He cried emphatically once Mizu had finished speaking. "As you know, the vast majority of your own people were forced to abandon their leader and risk their clan's pride just in hopes of having a future after witnessing almost everyone they know eventually die in vain! Because of their intense desire for peace, Madara finally agreed to sign the Senju proposed truce which now grants you protection by Konoha! As hokage I feel obligated to preserve this peace and resolve any rising conflict as smoothly as possible."

He paused, dropping his tone and adding, "Not to mention you two would be valuable allies to the village and it's defenses, considering how developed your Sharingan are. I'd hate to watch such experienced shinobi as yourselves follow in Madara's footsteps and leave the village angrily resenting the Senju. If there's anything I can do to win your trust and prevent that from happening again, I will try my hardest to succeed."Hashirama concluded, shooting them both a hopeful smile.

Yanagi looked away from him then, saying nothing as she fought against the tangled emotions that still knotted her throat. She heard him step forward and take a seat at the foot of Mizu's bed where there was plenty of space (as the girl's legs were folded beneath her).

"I think the two of you just need some proper appreciation to soothe your emotions and recover from this experience." Hashirama began again, reaching forward to touch Yanagi's ankle through the blanket. However he stopped abruptly upon hearing the door behind him open, casually dropping his hand onto his own leg.

Mizu struggled to not yelp in shock when she saw that damn red-eyed Senju from yesterday step through the door, closing it behind him as he entered the room. She silently prickled with disgust, her palms sweating and teeth clenched. Glancing at her sister, she noticed that Yanagi's posture had become rigid, her muscles tense as she too struggled to suppress her rage.

"Well good morning Tobirama!" Hashirama said, greeting his brother cheerily. "Come to see how these girls are feeling too?" A grin flashed across his face.

Tobirama just grunted at his brother in response, looking rather more annoyed than usual. "And I suppose that's what you're doing here?" He asked, his sharp eyes skeptically assessing his brother's overly innocent demeanor. He seemed to be quite anxious, Mizu observed.

"Of course!" Hashirama replied simply. He watched as his brother turned and strode across the room, opening a drawer and removing a couple rolls of clean bandages before pushing the drawer shut a bit too roughly. The sharp resounding snap of wood against wood made both girls jump. "Brother. I know you have a lot of official documents to address again today due to the recent surge of clans and civilians immigrating to the village." Tobirama said to his brother as he approached the door. Hashirama blinked, unsure of what Tobirama was getting at. "Perhaps you should not waste too much more time here." He added over his shoulder coldly before exiting the room, giving neither of the girls so much as a glance.

Sighing deeply, Hashirama stood up. "I suppose he is right, I do have a lot to take care of today..." Turning his gaze toward the sisters, who were feeling relieved at the prospect of being left alone for a little while, he smiled and said, "You may leave when you decide you feel well enough, though I really would recommend taking it easy for a few days. Also, expect to see me around again soon." Ignoring their mutual grimacing at this, he continued speaking as though he hadn't seen their reactions. "I'll come to check up on you two when I have some time." With that, he left the room, turning and giving them a quick wink before closing the door with a click.

Moments later, two pillows thwacked with surprising force against the now-closed door. Mizu and Yanagi leaned back onto the remaining pillow (each of them had been given two) and fumed silently as they struggled to process and come to terms with everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.


	3. Uchiha Retreat

**Here's chapter 3! A heartfelt thank you to crazyuser, who has reviewed both of our previous chapters! ^-^ Here is chapter 3, which is completely unedited, and only mildly proofread. It's pretty rough, so we'll be updating with a more polished version soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the (mostly) finished product! **

*Chapter 3*

Tobirama scowled at his fist, inside of which a handful of bandages were being crumpled mercilessly. His usually composed thoughts were buzzing furiously as he wondered what Hashirama had learned from the wounded Uchiha siblings in the med room. Tobirama cursed under his breath- he had not meant to sleep so late before going to have a discussion of his own with the girls. His topic of conversation had not been the sort of thing that he could say in front of his brother. As for what the girls may have said this morning… Hashirama hadn't acted as though any seriously dangerous information had been revealed to him. All the same, it was clear that he was going to continue to take a personal interest in these girls. Tobirama forced himself to calm down, regaining control of his features and posture. He decided that he could postpone a trip to his brother's office since Hashirama was supposed to be busying himself with paperwork at the moment. Besides, he had other responsibilities of his own towards the village. As he entered his office, undecorated and small, he considered the furious reactions he'd received from his brother's 'patients' and a cold rage burned in his chest. Whatever was keeping them silent wouldn't last long, he was sure of it. The violence that had been so obvious in their body language only served to confirm to Tobirama that he would need to take further measures to subdue them.

As he was considering his plans of action, he sensed Hashirama approaching. Striding across the room, Tobirama opened the door just before Hashirama had a chance to knock. Dropping his raised fist, Hashirama said, "Hey brother, mind if I have a quick word with you?" and flashed a smile.

Tobirama's heart skipped a beat as he stepped back to let his brother in, closing the door behind him. "I know I have a lot to do today, but I just wanted to come and ask you something before I got started…" Hashirama said, walking over to Tobirama's desk and turning around to lean against it. "Did you give those girls some reason to be angry with you?" He inquired, looking Tobirama in the eye. "Because they really seem to think you can't be trusted."

Tobirama's customary frown deepened as he felt his face get hot. "Just what did they say?" he asked, meeting his brother's gaze and trying to keep his tone even. Hashirama looked down at the floor.

"Um… well they just said that you're lying to me about last evening's events and that I shouldn't trust you. The strange part though is that they wouldn't give me a real reason why they believed that, they seemed to think that they had something to fear from you."

Tobirama kept his expression rigid, but his heart was pounding uncomfortably. A bead of sweat crawled down his temple and he scowled, trying to retain his composure in front of his brother. It was a few seconds before Tobirama trusted himself to respond. "I don't know what their issue is with me, I'd never even met them before yesterday evening. If my account of last night's events fail to correspond with their memories of the incident, well that hardly surprises me." he stated, his words colored with a definite undertone of irritation. "They were both badly wounded when I arrived, and both had already entered a state of shock. They're bound to be confused right now; however it is most irrational of them to fixate their anger upon me without even justifying themselves properly." One of Tobirama's silver eyebrows twitched sharply, the only external indication of the cold fury that raged behind his expression of vague disdain.

Hashirama pursed his lips, pulling his eyebrows together in a somewhat confused expression. "Are you sure? They seemed remarkably clear-headed to me, especially considering the situation."

"Well," Tobirama replied coolly, his other eyebrow twitching downward this time. "It's just like I keep trying to tell you. The Uchiha are spiteful without cause, and too proud to admit it."

Hashirama frowned, a hint of irritation showing on his openly expressive features. "Tobirama, that just isn't true. The Uchiha are simply struggling to come to terms with the same old wounds that we ourselves still feel, and that every person whose family has been touched by this shinobi world feels. Wounds caused by too many generations of war- I shouldn't have to tell you these things, because you are smart enough to understand them for yourself. However, I must say something because you consistently refuse to show acknowledgment of this." Hashirama paused, taking a breath of air and choosing his next words carefully. "Tobirama, you expect everyone to lock up their emotions the way you do. You expect everyone to be able to, and when a person fails to meet these expectations, you disapprove of them. Your mannerisms may be subtle, but your words are clear. The Uchiha are perceptive. They know how it is you think of them, even if you only ever speak upon such thoughts in private. Perhaps if you showed more respect to our allies, they would not display such distrust towards you. They may be quick and decisive in their judgments of you, but you can hardly deny that you act the same way towards them."

Tobirama's posture straightened somewhat defensively as he glared at his brother. "I can deny it, and I do," he replied, his irritation growing more forceful. "They treat us like spoiled conquerors, though the village is still so newly established. They are prone to physical violence, with no regard for the consequences, and I distrust them."

"They are not the only clan of shinobi who start duels! And few of their domestic conflicts end with any injuries more serious than a kunai slash." Hashirama also crossed his arms, growing exasperated.

"No, but the select fights that do get out of hand with an Uchiha end in death rather often, and I do hope you already knew that!" Tobirama retorted, getting exasperated with this conversation. "Many of them still lack an understanding of your mentality of comradeship, and I'm sure that still more of them remember their days of unchallenged authority with a certain fondness, in spite of the hardships of eternal warfare."

"You judge too quickly!" Hashirama replied insistently, his dark eyes growing intensely frustrated. No matter how he tried to approach this conflict between his brother and the Uchiha he was met with stubborn, unyieldingly opinionated people. "I have discussed these and other matters with the new leader of the Uchiha Clan. It is primarily adolescents and young adults who still struggle with the idea that they are no longer simply members of an independent clan of shinobi. Shall we punish the whole for the misgivings of the few? It would be much better to seek an open, rational discussion with the discontented elements. Perhaps their protests could be easily addressed to the greater advantage of the Leaf, but unless we attempt to find out, we will not know. Furthermore, I think many young shinobi from all of the clans would find great pride in being shinobi of a united village, for so many different reasons. We should be open and try to share a sense of companionship in the politics of our village." Hashirama fixed his younger brother with an unusually stern look. "I do not expect you to organize and conduct discussions with the younger members of the village, but I do expect you to keep your personal feelings from negatively affecting your actions towards the Uchiha- or, for that matter, any clan at all. Is this clear to you?"

Tobirama's features, all sharp lines and angles, had once more become a stoic mask of calm. "Of course, Brother," he replied simply, keeping his true thoughts to himself for the time being. Besides, Hashirama was not entirely wrong- the youth of the village, from the older adolescents to the very young children, made the village's future. They created it with their choices and decisions and life, though few of them were aware of it. It was crucial to pay attention to the forces sculpting these decisions, but it was prudent to have a hand in shaping them, too. Tobirama decided to think more on this once the conflict with the two girls was resolved.

Hashirama sighed, bringing Tobirama's attention back to the matter at hand. "Well if you say that you've done nothing to offend Yanagi and Mizu, then there is a serious misunderstanding at hand, one that I tried and failed to resolve this morning. I recommend that you make time today to go speak to them yourself. If the three of you can stop glaring long enough to have an actual discussion, then the conflict here could be quickly and smoothly resolved. Do you want me to come along?"

Normally Tobirama might have protested to Hashirama dictating his schedule for the day with so little advance notice. This time, however, the displeasure lining his face had smoothed out. "No brother, you're right. This is something I should do myself."

Hashirama smiled widely, pleased that Tobirama had agreed so readily. Perhaps there was hope for his difficult-yet-beloved younger brother. "Thank you, Brother," he said brightly, unfolding his arms and relaxing. "Remember, you'll have to patiently receive their criticism before any progress can be made towards setting the record straight. Let them speak their piece, and be willing to consider the worth of their words, no matter how inflammatory they may sound. I have confidence that the three of you can come to understand and respect each other, but they are not the only people who can determine whether or not such a thing actually comes to pass." Tobirama let his eyes wander from his brother, not exactly comfortable with being on the receiving end of a cautionary lecture. Hashirama continued nonetheless. "You are always analyzing situations like this when it comes to the village; it's time to let go of past convictions and form new relations with those who are no longer our enemies." Hashirama's face had grown more serious as he said this, but now it once more softened into a smile.

"Alright, I'm done now!" Hashirama said, laughing easily. Tobirama sighed impatiently and unfolded his arms.

"Of course I know these things," the younger brother replied tersely as he turned away from his brother and walked across the room to his desk. With a slight roll of his eyes, he began to organize his paperwork into tall piles so that he could return to it later that day. Hashirama was used to his brother's prickly responses- he was pretty sure that he could count the number of times he'd heard his brother laugh on one hand… _Maybe_ two. Certainly the total was less than ten.

"Are you going now?" Hashirama inquired.

"Yes. You said that they were free to depart as soon as they felt able to. I would like to make sure that this is resolved before they leave," Tobirama replied smoothly, his mind turning over possible courses of action.

Hashirama smiled approvingly. "That's the spirit." Then his expression sobered slightly. "Come see me when you're done. If we can't identify who sent those ninja, then we must at least ensure that no enemy shinobi can infiltrate the village like this in the future. That path wasn't even ten minutes away from the village and yet if it hadn't been for you, then those girls surely would have been killed. This is unacceptable, of course."

Tobirama nodded once, steeling himself for a late night spent completing the paperwork he was currently setting aside. "Of course, Brother." Hashirama exited his office, his mind already mulling over the issue of the village's security. A short time later, Tobirama also exited, pulling the door shut behind him. He began to retrace his steps to the medical ward, striding through the Hokage's Mansion with an air of irritated urgency.

"Come on, Yanagi," Mizu urged, her vision swimming painfully as she leaned her weight against the doorframe. The door itself stood open, so that the two of them could leave as soon as Yanagi managed to get to it. The older sister grimaced at her wounded knee, bandaged stiffly and still painful to move. She was at least standing, supporting her weight on her uninjured leg, but the first step she had tried to take nearly made her sprawl on the floor. Since then, she'd made it halfway to the door and paused, noting distantly a certain moist warmth beneath the bandage that made her think that the wound had reopened. Mizu had no doubts on that score, but she doubted that it was bleeding severely enough to seep through the bandages themselves. Obviously the medical shinobi had been planning to give them further attention, but neither Mizu nor Yanagi felt inclined to return to their borrowed beds to wait for it.

Both sisters had decided soon after Hashirama left that they needed to get out of that place. They reasoned that if they could just get to the Uchiha compound, then they would actually have a chance to rest their battered bodies. As it was, every time someone walked past the window of the room they were in, both of them would tense up involuntarily with the fear that the silver-haired Senju had returned to finish what he'd started.

Gritting her teeth, Yanagi pushed herself forward, forcing her injured knee to hold her weight long enough to move her forward another step. Mizu was feeling no better, but she had pushed her way across the room with fierce determination. She was _not _just going to sit around waiting for either of the damned Senju brothers to return. Hashirama may have treated them with a certain degree of respect, but his continued insistence on trying to charm them was almost as distasteful to Mizu as the thought of encountering Hashirama's younger brother. Yanagi's thoughts were almost entirely preoccupied by the possibility of Tobirama moving in on them while they were injured and alone. If Hashirama had spoken with him about the accusations that she and Mizu had made today, then it was certainly only a matter of time before he took measures to shut them up permanently.

Forcing herself to keep moving in spite of the pain, Yanagi managed to join her sister, her face a grim mask of resolve laced with an almost primal form of panic. "Okay," Yanagi said, leaning her weight on her good leg and bracing herself against the wall for support. "Okay, let's go." Her voice was shaking almost as much as her injured leg, which threatened to give out altogether. Mizu was trembling even more violently, but she nonetheless pushed her way out into the hallway as soon as Yanagi finished speaking. Yanagi followed her, keeping one hand braced on the wall as she followed her sister out of the room.

Tobirama strode down the long hallway connecting the medical ward to the business section of the estate, chuckling quietly to himself as he anticipated the imminent confrontation in which he planned to remind the Uchiha girls why he still had control over them. As he approached however, he began to sense their chakra slowly moving further away. At this, his smug countenance instantly evaporated and he quickened his pace, cursing the girls under his breath. _I need to talk to them without an audience while there's still the chance. _He thought irritatedly. _Damnit!_

Mizu hobbled down the last few steps leading to the ground level before pausing to lean back against the wall and let Yanagi catch up. Yanagi limped down the staircase, relying heavily on the wooden banister grown into the wall. Beads of sweat dotted Yanagi's upper lip and under her shadowed eyes. Pushing off of the wall roughly, Mizu reached for her sister's hand, grabbing it and pulling her arm over the back of her shoulders. Despite being several inches shorter and already quivering in pain under her own weight, Mizu lessened the strain on Yanagi's grinding knees and made a crutch of herself. The pair scuttled across the landing and Yanagi reached forward to push open the door leading outside. Mizu jammed her toe at the bottom of the door when it swung open so that they could hobble by without being knocked over by the tall wooden board's returning momentum. All the added strain caused Mizu to break out in a sweat by the time they reached the mansion's outer gate.

"Well, our home is on the other side of the village, but at least we're out of that Senjuu-ridden palace." Mizu said as she paused outside the massive red gate to catch her breath. Yanagi shifted uncomfortably, her posture painfully crooked and bent over her shorter sibling. The responding sharp pain grinding in her knees reminded her to stay bent, as it was the only way she could travel home.

"I really wish I didn't have to slow you down like this." Yanagi said, scowling angrily at her legs.

Mizu just snorted in response, shifting more of her sister's weight onto her shoulders. "As if I'd leave you behind just to make better time getting home. Pff, and there's no way in hell I'd leave you stranded with these loony Senjuu creeps either. Nope, you're just going to have to let me drag you home." Mizu flashed a grin up at her sister. "C'mon, let's get going."

Just as the pair began to shuffle on, an angry voice called out from the mansion. "Wait just a moment!" The sisters froze. Mizu didn't have to turn around to know it was that despicable white-haired Senjuu. Feeling under no obligation to acknowledge his authority in this public setting, Mizu attempted to continue on, silently urging her sister to do the same. She had only taken one heavy step before the Tobirama appeared instantly before them, his face pink with growing fury. "Do you two seriously think you can make it to the Uchiha compound from here in such a condition? Fools! There's no way you'll make it before someone takes advantage of your wounded state! Don't you remember what happened just recently even when you were perfectly capable of fighting back?" He spat, leaning in and invading their personal space.

Mizu felt rage begin to coil in her gut, her skin prickling numbly from the sudden adrenaline. Her face remained stoic as she gazed ahead, burning the air in front of her with her eyes. "Okay. Is that all, or did you actually have something to say?" Mizu didn't look at him as she spoke, her gaze fixed to the side. Tobirama glared at the Uchiha darkly.

"You had best watch your backs." With that, he flickered out of sight, leaving the girls uneasy and feeling rather tormented.

Yanagi glared bitterly at the space that Tobirama had been occupying. "Damned bastard uses his teleportation jutsu too damn much, if you ask me," she growled, trying to repress the fear that had frozen her insides when he'd appeared in front of them. "Obviously we're far from through dealing with that asshole," she continued, glancing at her sister. "But he can't do anything when we're not alone with him, so there. Maybe we should have told the Hokage the truth," she said, her voice breaking with anger.

"Even if we had, there's no way he would've believed us. Obviously he would have gotten his psychotic-ass brother involved, and you know he'd just lie his way out of it with little effort especially considering the level of trust between them. We had no direct evidence that he was the culprit and it almost certainly would have convinced him to kill us-or even worse, attack us again." Mizu said, staring at the dirt around her feet, her brows knitting together.

"We did just what he told us and kept quiet about his involvement! So why is he still trying to hold us down with threats? Damnit! Why won't he just leave us alone?" Mizu growled angrily.

Yanagi stared at her own feet, unable to think of something to say. Her face grew weary and profoundly unhappy. Finally she sighed and shrugged the shoulder of the arm that wasn't wrapped around her sister for support. "Because he's a psychotic bastard, I guess.." she mumbled as they forced their wounded bodies to move forward once more. People stared as they hobbled down the streets, but neither sister paid the villager's reactions much attention. Taking the quickest route to Yanagi's three-room flat, which was closer than Mizu's three-room flat, they tried to ignore the people who were naturally curious about a couple of wounded girls wearing the clothing of hospital patients. It was to be expected that they would attract attention, sine Yanagi clearly could barely even stand on her own. Concern was plain on the faces of some of those they passed, but the stony expression on each sister's face and the grim determination with which they moved kept anyone from approaching them.

The clouds that had been smothering bright moonlight scattered and settled in wisps among the stars as they neared the edge of the Uchiha compound. It had taken more than four times as long to cross the village than it would have at their _average_ sprinting pace due to the fragility of their relatively fresh wounds. Yanagi pushed herself gently away from her sister and began limping on her own. She tried not to cringe each time she supported her weight with her injured knee, knowing that her fellow Uchiha were perceptive enough to see something like that (it was bad enough that she had to limp). She didn't want any of her clan members asking questions, and it wasn't much farther to her flat.

With the weight from her shoulders relieved, Mizu straightened her back, throwing her fists out and swinging her arms in big circles. She gingerly rose from her crouched posture, straightening her knees briefly before wincing slightly and bending to a subtle stoop. Together, they made their way through the mini-village, past the sleeping marketplace devoid of people, past the streets lined with households and non-shinobi homes. They reached the far end of the compound and continued down the road to their flats without being noticed.

The stairs leading to Yanagi's flat on the third floor took a while for them to climb without reopening their wounds. As they approached the front door, Mizu leapt lightly on to the railing and then the roof above the door. "I can at least bend my knees." she said to Yanagi, who leaned back against the railing, nodding. Mizu then turned and scurried over the peak of the roof before skidding down to the right spot and dropping onto the tiny balcony below. She opened the miniature window beside the door and reached inside and down, feeling for a key on the table. Finding it right where it should be, she hurried to unlock the door and moved across the room to let Yanagi in.

Yanagi limped in, feeling a short-lived sense of security as she entered her familiar home and switched on the light. The main room, which was a conglomerate room containing her kitchen, dining area, and living area, was painted a mellow green, reminiscent of the color of newly grown willow leaves in spring. Two doors, both open, showed shadowed sections of her bedroom and her bathroom. Yanagi wanted to sit down on the blue-grey couch beneath her window, but she forced herself to limp into her bedroom and reassure herself that her flat was completely empty. She reentered the main room and lowered herself gingerly onto her couch. "Do your wounds need immediate attention?" Yanagi asked, her voice sounding noticeably strained.

"No…" Mizu replied, sounding just as weary. "…But I could use a shower. Then I can change my bandages.. It's really not too bad."

Yanagi nodded wearily. "I should do the same," she replied. She paused, feeling her stomach rumble vaguely. "After that we can eat, I made rice balls recently- they're in the fridge." Another pause. "You can shower first if you feel like it."

Mizu nodded and limped towards the bathroom, leaning against the sink as she starting running the water. As it heated up, Yanagi once more got to her feet and travelled to her bedroom, this time to retrieve loose, comfortable outfits for the both of them. She gave her sister one set of clothing and returned to the couch, resting her own change of clothes on the cushion beside her.

As the sound of the shower filled the room with a comfortingly familiar background noise, Yanagi found her head resting on the back of the couch, fatigue settling into her wearied muscles. She sighed deeply, feeling her knee throb dully. The incessant discomfort meant that Tobirama Senju was never far from her vague, only partially-awake thoughts. Her arm twitched violently, startling her out of her sleepy daze. Her dark gaze darted around the room nervously and she blinked blearily, realizing how close she'd been to falling asleep.

Taking a deep breath and straightening her back, Yanagi stretched, reaching forward and snatching a fat, boxy book off of the low card table in front of her. She then stood and limped over to the back door, locking it along with the window and lowering its bamboo-slat shade completely. After securing the front door, she grabbed a katana from the adjacent closet to work as a 'safety' crutch before moving back to the couch and carefully dropping backwards onto it.

Situating the katana against the arm of the furniture, she gazed down at the book she had been carrying. It was dark green with a sharp red title reading, '_Known Plants of the Fire Nation'_. Fanning it open to the page she was reading last, she forced herself to stay alert, deciding to study the pictures in detail rather than focus on the dense text. Only a couple of minutes later, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped abruptly. Mizu padded out in an oversized black tee shirt adorned with the Uchiha crest shortly thereafter, her long blue hair twisted into a towel atop her head.

Yanagi closed her book with a soft snapping sound. She stood slowly, her muscles feeling stiff and reluctant to move. Placing the book back on the table where it had been resting before, she waved her hand at the closet containing her basic shinobi's first-aid kit, which was still quite a bit better stocked than an ordinary basic supply of medicine. "Take whatever you need, and don't forget to apply as much antiseptic as you can. The last thing you need is an infection," she said, falling into her habits of showing extra concern for her sibling's well-being. So saying, she entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

As the sounds of running water once more filled the tiny apartment, Mizu approached the cabinet gingerly. Her wounds were currently unbandaged, having been carefully cleaned in the warm water of the shower. Now Mizu set about the delicate task of applying antiseptic and new bandages. Inside the bathroom, Yanagi was undressed, carefully unwrapping the sweat-soaked bandages from her injured knee. Wincing as warm water began flowing over the deep wounds in her skin, the results of having broken shards of bone slice her skin up from the inside out. The bone plate in her kneecap had been mostly healed, but the entire joint remained swollen, bruised, and generally painful. She spent much of her shower sitting on the bottom of the tub and scrubbing herself gingerly, feeling drained from the events of the last two days.

Before very long, Yanagi emerged from the bathroom with her still-roughly cut hair tousled and half-dry, wearing a dark green shirt also huge and also bearing the Uchiha crest (most of her shirts did). Mizu had finished bandaging her wounds and was relaxing in the extremely large shirt that Yanagi had acquired from their father, a shinobi of remarkable stature. Yanagi had a few shirts like this and the one that she was wearing that had been given to her since she liked to have loose, comfortable clothing to relax in.

Yanagi dropped onto one of the chairs around her dining table, where Mizu had laid out the medical supplies. Setting her jaw, she applied antiseptic to her knee and wrapped it up so that it was both tight and flexible. Then she put the first aid supplies away and went to her refrigerator for the food. Rather than bringing it to the table like she usually might, Yanagi brought the tray of leftover onigiri to the couch where Mizu was now sitting, thumbing through the book on the botany of the Fire Nation with a preoccupied look on her face. Yanagi sat carefully beside her, resting the food on the table in front of them. Mizu closed the book and set it on the couch, ignoring the weariness which made her hands tremble as she reached for a rice ball.

"So do you think he'll make good on those threats earlier?" Mizu asked apprehensively, staring glumly at the rice ball in her hand for a while before taking a huge bite and letting her eyelids droop shut as she chewed and waited for a response.

"I think we have reason to believe that he will," Yanagi replied grimly as she took a rice ball of her own and bit into it. She was silent as she chewed slowly and swallowed. "I don't know how we should handle this, exactly. Maybe for now it's better to bide our time... At least until he stops watching us so closely, that is. So.. you'll stay here tonight, because I have room and you're exhausted. But I think that, in the near future, we should try not to appear like we're acting unusually. We'll carry on about our missions and lives as we always have, living in our own homes and stuff. We should make sure to communicate regularly, unless we're on a mission outside of the village. We see each other pretty much every day anyways, but he might very well wait to strike until we're not together. If he approaches either of us, we should let the other know as soon as we can. Keeping track of his behavior will help us to predict his actions- he caught us by surprise before, but he's made a mistake by confirming the fact that he's not just going to leave us alone. We can prepare ourselves, so that next time he can't do what he did before. We'll have to be very careful.. And smart…. But," she said, a sly note entering her tone of voice, "I think we might be able to use Hashirama's misplaced and unsettling level of affection for us to our advantage. Maybe if we can form enough of a relationship with him that he trusts us, actually trusts us, instead of just giving us credit for being people, or whatever he's doing now… Well maybe then we can tell him. Maybe then he'd believe the truth." Yanagi fell silent and consumed the rest of her rice ball in a few quick gulps. "What do you think?" Yanagi asked her sister as she reached for a second helping of food.

Mizu intently chewed faster to finish the rice ball she had crammed into her mouth. She regarded her sister through eyes half lidded, her expression somewhat dubious as her bloated cheeks gradually returned to their normal size in little spurts. "I'm all for the extra security," She began, her expression becoming more serious. "We could blow a goukakyuu into the sky to signal a red alert flare if it comes to that. But as for the Senjuu …" she paused briefly, sucking in her breath and leaning back a bit. "Well, he's their leader for crying out loud! Who's to say he's not just trying to soften you up so he can try the same thing his brother did without the same political consequences? Or maybe he's just trying to cover up his clan's involvement in the ordeal by pretending to help while steering the blame into the ground! I myself am certainly not about to give trust of all things to a damn_ Senjuu_ after a blow like this." Mizu wrinkled her nose, her eyebrows forming an angry slant.

Yanagi grimaced. "I didn't say we should trust him. I'm just thinking about what Madara used to say about him, back when our clans were always at war. Remember? Some of our clan members were asking him why Hashirama was so eager to make an alliance. Remember what he said? He called him an sentimental idealist. Not overly complimentary, but something in this guy's character still convinced Madara to agree to an alliance…" Yanagi frowned. "He is a fool who, as a leader, should have already been open to hearing a truth like this. But, well, we have very few options for remaining in this village if we don't find a way to make what happened known. I refuse to just remain silent, allowing that white-haired bastard to torment us, but it would almost be worse for him to just get away with it, you know?"

Mizu lowered her gaze to the couch cushion between them, eyebrows still angry. "Oh there's no way he's not getting his fair dose of our revenge." The side of her mouth twitched into a lopsided, high-lipped grin. "One way or another, I swear we will make him pay for his mindless cruelty." At that, the other corner of her mouth jumped up and tightened, a mischievous grin stretching between her cheeks.

Yanagi smirked a bit, but the expression in her dark eyes was still more thoughtful than vindictive. "But we have to do it right, whichever way we choose. We can't afford not to play a shinobi's game, because that is the only way for us to best him without ripping out each other's eyes to obtain the Mangekyou. At least I don't see another way to come out of this without receiving more of what we already got or worse… I wouldn't put it past him to kill us if he felt we were enough of a threat." Yanagi's face and thoughts were now again completely serious.

"Of course." Mizu replied. "We have to wait until the time is right." With that, Mizu stood up and skipped over to the closet, pulling out the spare futon and pillow she always used when she spent the night at her sister's. Yanagi took care of the dish, tucking the remaining rice balls in the fridge. The siblings then retreated to the small bedroom in the corner of the flat, turning off lights as they went. Yanagi made sure to leave the kitchen light on.

Mizu unrolled the futon beside her sister's silently. They sat facing one another atop their respective futons, both nervous to go to sleep. Yanagi could see her sister's face clearly by the light of the moon shining through her bedroom window. She could feel her body's need for deep sleep and thorough rest, but felt that she would nonetheless be abnormally aware of her surroundings, meaning a restless sleep.

"Well," she said finally. "Good night."

Mizu grinned. "Goodnight." Both of them settled down into their beds and closed their eyes. Weary as they were, it was not very long before both of them had fallen asleep, though for Mizu at least, it was a restless sleep indeed. Yanagi, naturally the heavier sleeper, did not fully awake again until sunlight shone across her eyes through her window the following morning.

That evening, Tobirama raged about in his room for a bit before calming himself and deciding how to handle the recent turn of events. With the Uchiha girls gone he had to change his plan of attack, and they would be expecting him this time._ 'Maybe I can lure them away somehow…' _he thought, perched on the edge of his bed. He jumped when a knock sounded at his door, and thoughts were interrupted. "Can I come in? It's me." Hashirama's voice came from behind the door.

Tobirama had to force himself not to scowl. "Come in," he said, sounding indifferent. Hashirama entered, a worried expression lining his face.

"They're gone," he said, assuming his brother would know who he meant.

Tobirama regarded him coolly. "Yes."

"You knew?"

"They were leaving when I went to talk to them."

"And you let them go?! In their condition?" Hashirama stared at him disbelievingly. "Why?"

"They were quite determined; I felt that I could not detain them by force, and they would not be persuaded."

Hashirama stared at him a moment more. "I'm going to go make sure they're alright," he said decisively, turning and starting to leave.

Tobirama stood quickly. "Wait, Brother." Hashirama paused, his shoulders stiff with impatience. "They left well before noon, so I should think that even in their condition they would have made it home by now. They were quite determined to make it, you know how Uchiha can be." He said, rolling his eyes at the last bit.

Hashirama turned towards him, frowning as if he were unconvinced. "Their wounds had healed quite a bit," he said. "But the Uchiha mostly live on the other side of the village. To have made it home at all would have been hard on them." He hesitated, uneasy about the situation.

Tobirama was silent a moment. "They really wouldn't have it any other way, and they were as aware of their physical condition as anyone. The Uchiha medics are now more than capable of taking care of their shinobi. The office of Hokage requires you to return your attention to larger issues."

"The brutal violation of two Leaf shinobi in our own village is a pretty large issue, Tobirama!" Hashirama replied forcefully. "I suppose you do have a point though. I still have quite the load of paperwork due tomorrow afternoon, after all."

Tobirama relaxed a mental fraction of an inch. "Yes, me as well," he agreed, hoping to steer the conversation towards a close.

"Well, I'm still going to go check up on them soon." Hashirama said, turning again to leave. "Goodnight, Tobirama." He called over his shoulder as he walked away. Tobirama did not reply, shutting his bedroom door with a sullen click. Turning and glaring at nothing in particular, Tobirama wondered tensely if he had made a mistake by allowing the girls to return to their Uchiha relatives without ensuring a more immediate means of controlling them. His mind was rife with calculations of the likelihood of the stubborn siblings taking action even as he now left his room and began walking to his own office to resume his responsibilities. If they were going to act, they would probably be too tired to do it immediately, he decided.

He forced himself to focus on the dull work of reading, completing, and understanding official documents, assuming his role in the burgeoning structure of the Hidden Leaf Village's political system, one which was being designed for efficiency and efficacy. Hashirama had operated on the philosophy that a smooth system of operation depended on a reliable stream of information being communicated throughout its components. This encouraged unilateral cooperation, and promoted a sense of community rather than an atmosphere which would encourage political intrigue. That was how Hashirama explained his goals when questioned upon them. For the most part, Tobirama agreed with his brother. He had a few differing opinions on the matter, and had finally convinced his brother that it was necessary to have a force of elite shinobi who acted in matters of sensitive discretion, on missions that may or may not be made public knowledge. Hashirama felt that all members of the Leaf Village deserved to know information which would affect them or the village, a noble concept which nevertheless seemed reckless at best to Tobirama. Many of the other members of the growing bureaucracy had agreed with Tobirama, and ultimately Hashirama had agreed to a compromise. They would establish the ANBU Black Ops unit, but it would answer directly to the Hokage, who would make the final decision in what information would be made public. Tobirama had accepted this, hoping that his brother truly had grasped the implications of letting the wrong information roam loose on the streets.

It was the first dark hours of the morning when Tobirama had completed enough of his paperwork that it would be feasible for him to finish the rest in the morning without having to spend the whole morning doing so. He was quite used to taking shorter hours of sleep, so it would be an ordinary day for him in that regard. He retired to his quarters, his thoughts restlessly quiet as he fell asleep.

The next morning, Hashirama sat at his desk behind a visibly smaller pile of paperwork. He stood and walked over to a nearby filing cabinet containing the registry of Leaf shinobi and opened the second drawer up from the floor. The files were organized alphabetically, first in order of clan name, and then in order of any existing family name within each clan. While the naming customs of clans varied, meaning that some shinobi clan individuals were sorted alphabetically by first name, many Uchiha families had surnames that marked their family lineage more specifically. He didn't know if Yanagi and Mizu belonged to such a family, however, so he would have to go through the Uchiha files a little more thoroughly to find them. Beginning with the first Uchiha file, he checked for the first names, which he knew. He found two Mizus and a Yanagi, but none whose pictures matched the appearance of the girls he was looking for. Finally, under the family name Sawa, he found them. Returning to his desk, he opened up the files.

Needing to discuss the recent assault with the leader of the Uchiha clan, Hashirama had decided to visit the sisters after all while he was nearby. He'd consulted their official records in order to find out where they lived. There was a different address for each of them, but he knew where both streets were. He memorized the information and returned the files to their cabinet. Grabbing his Hokage hat from his desk, he donned it and left his office, shutting the door and setting course for the Uchiha section of the village.

**Crazyuser: XD We had fun writing Hashi's parts, both last chapter and this one. And LOL Rain thinks differently of Tobirama than Willow does, who thinks he has some serious anger issues. Nonetheless we both feel that he is really quite prejudiced in his actions towards the Uchiha, whom we love dearly. XD**


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